In this new emerging scenario, there is a bigger responsibility to be shared by stake holders involved in the power plant design & engineering, operation & maintenance, renovation & modernization, erection & commissioning, environment management, commercial management, technology provider, product and solution providers, policy maker, regulators and others. These professionals have to work with new set of different challenges and constraints which are known or lesser known at this stage.

THE SCENARIO - The non-compliance shouldn’t come as a surprise. For, right from the draft stage to the post-notification phase, the move to raise the bar faced stiff resistance from within the government and the industry.

YEAR 2015 - A new set of standard that was notified for the plants involved in power generation by the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MoEF&CC) in December 2015 which implanted will reduce freshwater withdrawal from coal power sector by 85%, particulate emissions by 65%, and SOx emissions by over 85% and NOx by almost 70%.

YEAR 2017 - CEA instructs power plants to Install FGD for 1,61,402 MW and Upgrade ESP for 64,525 MW of generation capacity to meet new environment norms with deadline ranging from 2020 to 2022 to meet the new environment norms and none are expected to adhere to the pollution norms before that if one goes by the CEA’s “Phasing Plan”.

YEAR 2022 - DEADLINE IS LONG PASSED. Implementation of the standards hasn’t moved and inch. Instead, Ministry of Power, duly supported by Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change, has managed to get a five-year extension, PUSHING THE DEADLINE TO ranging from 2020 to 2024.

TODAY - After 6 years have passed since the first notification from the central government and the progress with retrofitting pollution-control technology has been at SNAIL's PACE. A negligible amount of capacity has installed the equipment as of December 2021. Only around 60 per cent of the total installed capacity has issued a notice inviting tenders, though in some cases bids have been received and contracts awarded. Given that retrofitting flue gas desulphurization equipment requires 18–30 months for construction; will the power plants meet their respective deadlines?

Mission Energy Foundation captured the views of the industry form the time of notification till date and represented them to the Ministry of Power and Ministry of Environment, with several meetings held at the ministerial level and also noted that Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) regulations allow any capital expenditure to be categorised under “change in law”, ensuring it could be passed on to consumers in the form of higher tariffs. As per projected figures, installation of emission-reducing equipment would necessitate a rise of Rs 0.62-0.93/unit in power tariffs — the average price at which discoms purchase power is Rs 3.5/unit. Since power plants with lower generation costs get to sell their electricity first, producers that raise tariff on account of installation of FGD units would find it more difficult to sell power. The power producers, who account for the second-biggest portion of India’s $150 billion in bad loans after the steel industry, have sought access to the more than $4 billion National Clean Energy Fund to help install cleaner technology. 

To again address the current issues, challenges and discuss a way forward towards implementation new norms; Mission Energy Foundation calls the industry stakeholders to again gather during the 7th edition of SOx NOx 2022 (Conference + Expo + Awards), scheduled on 8 - 9 September 2022, at Hyatt Centric, New Delhi.