Coal emission

courtesy : Coal emission

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According to the analysis by theCentre for Science and Environment (CSE), a Delhi-based non-profit, 61% of the coal-based power plants located near million-plus population cities, which have to meet their emission standards by December 2022, will miss their deadlines.

Key Points

• Background:
  1. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) had in 2015 set new emission norms and fixed a deadline to meet it.
  2. India initially had set a 2017 deadline for thermal power plants to comply with emissions standards for installing Flue Gas Desulphurization (FGD) units that cut emissions of toxic sulphur dioxide.
  3. This was later changed to varying deadlines for different regions, ending in 2022.
• Categorisation of Power Plants:

       1  Category A:

1. The power plants which have to meet the December 2022 target are those which are located within 10 km radius of the National Capital Region (NCR) or cities having million-plus population.
2. There are 79 coal-based power plants in this category as per a categorisation list of a task force, constituted by theCentral Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

      2 Category B and C:

• 68 power plants have been put inCategory B (compliance deadline of December 2023) and 449 in Category C (compliance deadline of December 2024).
• The power plants which are located within 10 km radius of critically polluted areas or non-attainment cities fall under category B while the rest others (75% of total) fall in category C.
• CSE Analysis:

      3 Major Defaulters:

1. 1. Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.

• These defaulting stations are run largely by the respective state governments.

At least 17 Indian states have coal-based thermal power stations. A state-wise comparison                            highlighted the following:

• Except for Assam (AS), none of the other states among these 17 will 100% comply with the stipulated deadlines. This state has a 750-megawatt power station that makes it an insignificant per cent of total coal capacity.

# Coal emission

#Categorisation of Power Plants

#Background

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