File Figure of the power plant used only for representation. | Photo Credit: Hind
The Ministry of the Environment liberated most of the Indian thermal power plants from the installation of gas conviction systems (FGD), which are designed to reduce the emissions of the sulfur dioxide (SO2). Smoke gas, the rest of the thermal power plants, emitted by SO2, which can mix the atmosphere and create secondary particles. They are associated with air pollution.
There are about 180 thermal power plants in India. One plant can have multiple units. Now only about 11% of 600 Indian thermal power plants (TPP) must install FGD systems. These plants, called “Category A”, are plants located within a circle of 10 km from the region of the capital or are cities with a population of at least a million (census in 2011). Originally, these plants were supposed to introduce FGD systems by 2017, but received several extensions to comply. The latest – according to Gazette’s notification this week – is 30 December 2027.
Another 11% of TPP, called the B-with category, are located within 10 km from critically polluted areas (CPA) or cities that are not charged (NAC) -M or may not install FGD. This would depend on the decision of the experts’ committee (expert evaluation) – the current authority represented by the Ministry of the Environment, which provides an environmental offense of proposed coal plants projects. Category B plants that adhere to EAC standards have a deadline of 30 December 2028 to install FGD. CPAs are regions or industrial clusters that are very contaminated and considered to be the CPCB Central Council (CPCB). NAC – there are 131 – they are who have the worst air quality and have not met the national standards of ambient air quality (NAAQ) for at least five years.
The remaining 78% of the thermal power plants or “category C” and are now exempt from FGD installation.
Updated rules on FGD installation are exactly in line with the recommendations of the expert committee established by the main scientific advisor Ajay Sood this April. Hind informed about it.
Several obstacles
Last month, Minister of power Manohar Lal Khattar said that the Central Council for Control of Pollution examined the recommendations of this committee and would call the FGD for the future. Only about 8% of the Indian TPP installed FGD units. A limited number of sellers capable of installing such equipment in India, the high installation costs, the potential increase in electricity accounts, and the disturbance of the COVID-19 pandemia, some of the reasons historically quoted by the Ministry of Power, the Indian TPP, and observance of previous dealibers. In theory
The main principles of the Committee recommendations were: SO2 levels in the surrounding air across the ground are around 10-20 micrograms/cubic meters, significantly below Indian air quality standards 80; Indian coal has low sulfur content; SO2 levels in cities near plants with FGD operating units do not differ significantly from levels without these units and all were equally significantly below the permissible levels.
The Committee said that concerns about sulphates-fencemental by-product when SO2 emissions reach certain atmospheric levels, thus forming particles (PM)-they are unfounded. They quoted a sampling analysis of 5,792 pm across the country, which found the content of the “low elementary sulfur” (a maximum of 8 micrograms/m3 after removal of outlined leaving), which was considered “negligible – to considerate the removal of PM as the advantage of FGD”.
“CPCB and MOEFCC (Ministers of Environment, Forest and Climate Change) Should Have Carried Out and More Diligent Befit Cost Assessment of the Retrofit for Sox Control. With Nearly 15% of India’s Ambient PM2.5 Short-Sightd One That Is Not Founded in the Science of How and Where5 Forms, Especially From Large Stacks, ”Kartik Ganesan, an expert on energy and for the Energy, Environment and Water Council (CEEW), Think Tank, Hindu.
Manoj Kumar, who explored the impact of FGD in the Center for Research and Energy on Clean Air, criticized this decision. “It is known that power plants affect the areas 200 kilometers from their placement. Therefore, they are a source of overwhelmed pollution, regardless of the category they fall. “He said Hindu.
Published – July 12, 2025 22:10
