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					</table><p>The Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (<a href="https://moef.gov.in/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MoEFCC</a>) has once again extended the deadline for coal-based power plants to install pollution control technology and meet emission standards.</p>
<p>The deadline for thermal power plants to install Flue Gas Desulfurization (FGD) units that cut sulfur dioxide emissions has already been moved many times.</p>
<p>As per the new notification, the deadline for retiring power plants to install the equipment has been extended to December 31, 2027. For non-retiring units, the deadline has been extended to December 31, 2026, from December 31, 2024.</p>
<p>For non-retiring units within a 10-km radius of the National Capital Region or cities with a million-plus population, the deadline has been extended to December 31, 2024, from December 31, 2022.</p>
<p>The deadline for non-retiring units within a 10-km radius of critically polluted areas has been extended by two years from December 31, 2023.</p>
<p>The deadline for coal-based power plants across the country has been extended to December 31, 2026, from December 31, 2024.</p>
<p><strong>Status of FGD installations</strong></p>
<p>The government plans to install 600 FGD units at thermal power plants with a combined 211.62 GW capacity. This includes 67.46 GW of power plants owned by the central government, 68.16 GW by the states, and 76.01 GW by private players. Of these, bids have been awarded for FGD installations in 85.74 GW of thermal power plants.</p>
<p>Across the country, the central government has awarded bids to install FGD units at 133 projects with a capacity of 58.42 GW. State governments and private companies have awarded bids for 23 projects with 8.26 GW and 33 projects with 19.06 GW, respectively.</p>
<p>Thermal power plants that are to retire by December 31, 2027, will not be required to meet the specified norms for SO2 emissions if they seek exemption from the Central Pollution Control Board and Central Electricity Authority on the ground of retirement.</p>
<p>Initially, a 2017 deadline was <a href="https://mercomindia.com/status-of-retrofitting-pollution-control-systems/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">set</a> for thermal power plants to comply with emissions standards by installing the FGD infrastructure to cut toxic sulfur dioxide emissions. Subsequently, separate timelines were set for different regions, with the deadline ending in 2022. In another order, on  March 31, 2021, thermal plants close to heavily populated areas and New Delhi had to comply by 2022, while plants closer to critically polluted areas had time up to 2025 to comply or retire the units.</p>
<p><strong>Installation of FGDs in a phased manner</strong></p>
<p>According to a recent report published by the Center for Atmospheric Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi, for a typical coal-fired thermal power plant, FGD can remove between 50% and 99.8% of SO2 in flue gases depending upon the age of the plant.</p>
<p>The report recommends adopting a graded action plan for phased implementation of FGDs by giving preference to areas with the highest surface concentration of SO2. Phase 1 of FGD implementation should be from July 2022 to July 2025 and include FGD implementation in 40 thermal plants across the country. Phase 2 should happen in 49 thermal power plants, start from July 2026, and be completed by July 2029.</p>
<p>The report points out that Phase 3 of FGD implementation should happen in 27 thermal power plants and be completed between July 2029 and July 2031. Phase 4 of FGD implementation should happen in 21 thermal power plants, and it can start from July 2031 and be completed by July 2033.</p>
<p>Phase 5 can include the remaining seven thermal power plants and be completed by July 2034.</p>
<p>In 2020, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission <a href="https://mercomindia.com/thermal-units-pollution-control-retrofit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suggested</a> that thermal power projects retrofitting pollution control systems on commissioned units would be allowed to recover their costs in parts from buyers during the tenure of power purchase agreements. It suggested that 90% of the installation cost can be recovered over the life of the emission control equipment, estimated at 25 years, and10% considered salvage value.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/rakesh-ranjan-parashar/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Rakesh Ranjan</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Rakesh-Headshot-crop-2.jpg" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Rakesh Ranjan,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/rakesh-ranjan-parashar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Rakesh Ranjan.</a></p>
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<p><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Rakesh-Headshot-crop-2.jpg" width="77" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/rakesh-ranjan-parashar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong style="color: #00b451">Rakesh Ranjan</strong></a> is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Prior to joining Mercom, he worked in many roles as a business correspondent, assistant editor, senior content writer, and sub-editor with bcfocus.com, CIOReview/Silicon India, Verbinden Communication, and Bangalore Bias. Rakesh holds a Bachelor’s degree in English from Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). <a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/rakesh-ranjan-parashar/" rel="noopener noreferrer">More articles from Rakesh Ranjan.</a></p>
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Deadline for Coal-Based Power Plants to Meet Emission Standards Extended Again

<p><span lang="EN-IN">To help tackle air pollution issues, the Ministry of Power </span>has issued a policy that calls for using 5-10 percent of biomass pellets alongside coal for power generation in thermal power plants across the country.</p>
<p><span lang="EN-IN">Responding to a query in the Lok Sabha, Union Minister of Power R.K. Singh informed the House that </span>the Central Electricity Authority (<a href="http://www.cea.nic.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CEA</a>) has written to all states and union territories across the country and asked them to promote the use of biomass pellets at all of their thermal power plants, whether public or private.</p>
<p>The Power Minister added that the National Thermal Power Corporation (<a href="http://www.ntpc.co.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NTPC</a>) has already invited tenders for the procurement of 500 tons per day of agricultural, residue-based biomass pellets and 500 tons per day of agricultural, residue-based briquettes for power generation.</p>
<p>The initiative is expected to help curb the deterioration of air quality in Delhi by providing farmers in adjacent states with an alternate to burning their crop residue.</p>
<p>The tenders will be for a two-year period with a maximum price of ₹5,500 (~$85.32) per metric ton for agricultural residue based biomass pellets and ₹6,600 (~$102.3) per ton for pellets of agricultural residue based torrefied biomass pellets and briquettes, news agency PTI reported. If the NTPC can attract enough bidders for the tender, it will open up new avenues of growth for agricultural residue usage in power plants across the country.</p>
<p>According to CEA data, electricity generated through <a href="https://mercomindia.com/solar-power-generation-india/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">biomass</a> fell by 11 percent year-over-year from 4,136 BU in 2016 to 3,674 BU in 2017. Biomass made up just 0.29 percent of total energy generation in the country last year.</p>
<p>There is a fundamental shift underway in India’s power mix as the country transitions to renewables from fossil fuels. Installations share of coal declined significantly to just 19 percent in 2017 from 62 percent in 2016. A lack of power demand was also a factor in lower coal installations.</p>
<p>Recently, Mercom also <a href="https://mercomindia.com/40-percent-thermal-plants-water-scarcity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that water scarcity is an issue of increasing concern for India’s thermal power plants. A report by World Resources Institute (<a href="http://www.wri.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WRI</a>) found that about 40 percent of the thermal plants in India that rely on freshwater for cooling purposes are in water-stressed areas and more are expected to move into that category in coming years.</p>
<p>Image credit: Wikipedia</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/ankita/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Ankita Rajeshwari</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><p><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ankita-edited-1.png" alt="Ankita Rajeshwari" /> Ankita is an editor at MercomIndia.com where she writes and edits clean energy news stories and features. With years of experience in the news business, Ankita has a nose for news and an eye for detail. Prior to Mercom, Ankita was associated with The Times of India as a copy editor for the organization’s digital news desk. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Delhi University and a Postgraduate Diploma in journalism. <a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/ankita/">More articles from Ankita Rajeshwari.</a></p>
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CEA Asks States to Use 5-10% Biomass Pellets for Power Generation in Thermal Plants

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