Govt revises norms for coal-run power plants to cut pollution

In a bid to minimise pollution, the government has notified revised standards for coal-based thermal power plants and made it "most stringent" for those plants which will be installed in the future.
The coal-based thermal power plants have now been categorised into three categories, those installed before 2003, those after it till December 31, 2016 and those that will be installed after December 31 in 2016.
"The Environment Ministry has notified the revised standards for coal-based thermal power plants in the country, with the primary aim of minimising pollution. These standards are proposed to be implemented in a phased manner," an official statement said.

According to the Environment Ministry, the new standards are aimed at reducing emission of PM10 (0.98 kg/MWh), sulphur dioxide (7.3 Kg/MWh) and Oxide of nitrogen (4.8 kg/MWh), which, in turn, will help in bringing about an improvement in the Ambient Air Quality (AAQ) in and around thermal power plants.
The revised standards are based on the recommendation of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and the Ministry held extensive consultations with stakeholders regarding the matter.
It also placed these standards on its website to seek comments and after detailed discussions in the expert committee under the ministry, the standards were notified in the Gazette of India on December 7 this year.

Similarly, the Environment Ministry said that the technology employed for the control of the proposed limit of Sulfur Dioxide - SO2 and Nitrogen Oxide - NOx will also help in control of mercury emission (at about 70-90 per cent) as a co-benefit.

Noting that thermal power plants are water-intensive industry, the Ministry said limiting the use of water in thermal power plant will lead to water conservation (about 1.5 M3/MWh) and also lead to a reduction in energy requirement for drawl of water.
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The Environment Ministry said that the Particulate Matter (PM) standards for the thermal power plants (TPPs) have been made particularly stricter.

It said that till now, PM standards for thermal plants with power generation capacity of more than 210 MW was 150 microgram per cubic metre. For TPPs having generation capacity of less than 210 MW, PM standards were 350 mg per cubic metre.
"These norms pertaining to PM have now been made stricter," it said.
Elaborating about the reduction of PM standards depending upon age of the TPP, the Ministry said that for TPPs existing before December 31, 2003 the PM standards has been fixed at 100 mg per cubic metre.
Similarly, for TPPs existing between December 3, 2003 till 2016 it is 50 mg per cubic metre while for TPPs to be established after January 1, 2017 it is 30 mg per cubic metre.

"Standards pertaining to Sox, Nox and Mercury are new ones and did not exist earlier. The previous Gazette notification had been issued January 3, 1989," it said.