NEW DELHI: With many polluting thermal power plants missing the third deadline to implement emission standards for Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) notified in 2015, the environment ministry has given them a fourth extension by stretching the timeline by three more years to install pollution control equipment.
Giving relief to defaulters, the ministry has extended the deadline for thermal power plants (TPP) located within 10 km radius of the national capital region (NCR) or cities having million plus population from Dec 31, 2024 to Dec 31, 2027.
All these power plants were expected to install Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD) equipment to meet the SO2 standards by the previous deadline but many of them failed to do it. The FGD is a process of removing sulphur compounds from the exhaust emissions of fossil-fueled power stations.
According to a fresh notification issued last week, the deadline for TPP located within 10 km radius of ‘critical polluted areas’ (non-aftainment cities) has been extended from Dec 31, 2025 to Dec 31, 2028and for those located in other areas from Dec 31, 2026 to Dec 31, 2029. On the other hand, the TPPs which may opt to retire by Dec 31, 2030 will be exempted from the compliance. Earlier, their deadline for retirement was Dec 31, 2027.
The coal-fired thermal power plants are required to comply with the SO2 emission norms within these stipulated timelines, failing which environmental compensation for non-compliance will be imposed on the thermal power plants accordingly.
Since SO2 is a significant air pollutant with direct and indirect effects on human health, the ministry had in 2015 notified the rules to make it mandatory for the TPPs to achieve the target for emission standards and install FGD by Dec, 2017.
The deadline has since been extended four times for one or the other reasons, including once due to Covid-19 pandemic.
SO2 is a precursor to the formation of the hazardous fine particulate matter (PM2.5), which has been linked to many health issues, including respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.
Reports suggest that India was the largest emitter of SO2 globally in 2022, accounting for over 20% of the world’s anthropogenic emissions.
According to an analysis done by a policy think tank, Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), only less than 8% of the total coal-fired power plants electricity generation capacity has installed FGD to control SO2 emissions and the progress on installing the equipment has been slower than anticipated, with delays evident across multiple stages, since 2019.
The power ministry had in August last year informed the Lok Sabha that the FGD was being installed in 537 units in coal-based TPP across the country. By July 2024, only 39 units had installed the FGD whereas the remaining units were at different stages, including contract and tendering process, of installing the critical equipment.
Referring to the delay in installing the required equipment to meet SO2 emission norms, the ministry had said since FGD technology was new in the country, there were limited vendors with limited capacity to supply and install FGD components.
“Vendors’ capacity for FGD installation is about 16-20 GW (33 to 39 units) in the country and time taken for installation is about 44 to 48 months. A sudden surge of demand has arisen, as all thermal generating units are to comply with SO2 emission norms within a short period which created huge gap between demand and supply of FGD equipment,” it said.
Though India’s manufacturing capability of FGD components has increased, it still depends on the imports from other countries. “Further, a huge foreign exchange for importing technology, equipment and skilled manpower from other countries is also required,” said the ministry.
It had further informed the Lok Sabha that the installation of FGD systems had also faced difficulties in terms of conceptualization, design challenges etc. “Standardisation could not be done as different sites have different requirements like space constraints, lay-out and orientation etc.,” said the ministry in its response to a Parliament Question.
