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Ecology & Environment
Pradeep Kumar

03/04/21 09:00 AM IST

New deadlines for thermal power plants to meet emission standards

In news

The Environment Ministry has amended rules allowing thermal power plants within 10 kilometres of the National Capital Region (NCR) and in cities with more than 10 lakh population to comply with new emission norms by the end of 2022.

Highlights
  • A task force will be constituted by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to "categorise thermal power plants (TPPs) in three categories on the basis of their location
  • TPP units in "non-attainment cities" and those within 10 kilometres of critically polluted areas are required to meet the emission norms by December 31, 2023.
  • Non-attainment cities are those which have consistently failed to meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. The CPCB has identified 124 such cities.
New norms
  • The Environment Ministry had revised emission norms for particulate matter (PM), sulphur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen for TPPs in December 2015, requiring them to install emission control systems by December 2017.
  • The deadline was pushed to December 2022 for all power stations in the country in view of implementation issues and challenges.
Pollutants
  • Major pollutants from coal-fired power plants are oxides of nitrogen (NOx), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and particulate matter (PM).
  • According to the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), TPPs account for more than 60 per cent of total industrial emissions of particulate matter; 45 per cent of SO2; 30 per cent of NOx; and more than 80 per cent of mercury, in the country.
  • These are also responsible for 70 per cent of the total freshwater withdrawal by all industries, according to an analysis by the green think tank.
Source: The Hindu

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