With no penalty, power plants may not meet emission standards

NEW DELHI: Environment minister Harsh Vardhan on Monday blamed air pollution in the Indo Gangetic belt on “adverse weather conditions because of western disturbances, stubble burning and high levels of relative humidity”. But he did not include thermal power plants as a consistent source of secondary particulate matter.

For Delhi, thermal power plants within a 300-km radius contribute to particulate matter pollution. The north westerlies that carry particulate matter from crop fires also bring secondary sulphates and nitrates from big power plants, as do the southeasterly winds.

In December 2015, the environment ministry notified stricter standards for thermal power plants that use coal for power production, which have to be met by December 7, 2017.

With no penalties prescribed for those not meeting the standards in time, the thermal power plants are unlikely to do so before 2020. “If allowed to delay this time and without any penal action taken against it, the industry will be encouraged to further delay compliance, with no assurance of its meeting standards even by 2022,” said a Centre for Science and Environment statement.

The norms include limits for particulate matter (PM), sulphur oxides (SOx) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). Data from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) shows that plants will only install equipment to meet SOx standards between 2020 and 2025. There is no road map for NOx.

These gases react to form PM. “Mostly, the precursor gases (SOx and NOx) are emitted from far distances from large sources. For sulfates, the major contribution can be attributed to large power plants and refineries,” said an IIT-Kanpur 2015 study on Delhi-NCR pollution.

“We fully support the emission norms, but our problem is the time frame given to us and the ad hoc way in which regulations are being implemented,” Ashok Khurana, director general, Association of Power Producers.