Most coal power plants fail to meet gas desulphurization deadlines

Increasing awareness of toxic impact of coal on environment has forced the Indian government to order installation of Flue Gas Desulphurization (FGD) units at coal-fired power plants to cut Sulphur and nitrous dioxides emissions.

Coal, which fueled the industrial age, is now reviled as the dirtiest fuel that led the planet to the catastrophic climate change. India is the world’s second largest consumer, after China, of coal, which is used to generate electricity and power industries. Actually, all of India’s power plants are built on coal.

Currently, the country is trying hard and investing heavily in renewables, biomass, hydro and nuclear projects to diversify its power generation. Still, coal accounted for 58 percent of the country’s energy mix in 2019. Undoubtedly, it has been a significant achievement, considering just a decade ago coal’s share in India’s power mix was 80 percent.

India had pledged at Paris Climate Summit in 2015 to limit it coal use to 45 percent and cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to 40 percent by 2040, along with 188 countries which had also voluntarily committed themselves to plans to curb their greenhouse-gas emissions to help check the rise in the Planet’s surface temperature to below 2 C by 2050. Authorities in India exude confidence that they are on course to achieve that objective well before the target date.

Combustion of coal in power plants produces various impurities, such as Sulphur oxides and nitrous oxides, that cause lung diseases, acid rain and smog, and is responsible for 80 percent of India’s industrial emissions. But its use cannot be avoided. It will continue to be the largest single source of electricity in the oil and gas deficient country.

In 2018, India’s demand for coal was 586 million tonnes, which the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts to rise to 938 million by 2030 and 1.16 billion by 2040. But to meet the sustainable development scenario it would need to be 546 million. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s stint so far India has retired 7.4 GW of coal power plants, but added 82.3 GW of facilities.

Among the various measures the government has taken so far to mitigate the harmful effect of coal is a decree by the environment ministry making it mandatory for coal-fired power plants to install Flue Gas Desulphurization units cut air pollution levels. Some of them have been asked to comply with the directive by 2019-end and others by 2022. But barely a half of the plants which had been asked to put up FGDs by December 2019, have followed the order.

Central Electricity Authority (CEA) data show that 224 of these 267 plants, generating 84.8 GW have not even awarded the contracts for installation. Now, they have another deadline by December 2022 to install FGDs, along with the others who have to retrofit their units with desulfurization devices by that date. India has 440 coal-fired plants that produce 166.5 gigawatts (GW).

Most of the coal-fired power plants are owned by state governments. But a few dozens which are owned by private operators, including Adana Power and Reliance Power, say that FGD installation is a costly business which debt-ridden utility firms cannot afford. According to the Association of Private Power Producers (APP), the compliance with the environment ministry’s desulphurization norms would cost the sector US$38 billion. It said government-owned power distribution companies, the discoms, owe US$11 billion to private power producers in unpaid bills.

However, in order to speed up the induction of FGDs the power ministry has proposed an incentive of rupees 835 billion (US$11.6 billion) for utilities to install equipment to curb emissions of poisonous gases. But according to the Reuters news agency the Finance Commission which is required to examine the proposal has knocked it down as “unviable”.