India extends emissions deadline for coal-fired plants for third time

08 Sep 2022 CW Team

ndia has postponed, by two years, the deadline for coal-fired power plants to install technology to reduce sulphur emissions, the government announced in a notification, marking the third setback to a vow to clean up bad air.

In the beginning, India set a 2017 deadline for thermal power plants to install flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) equipment to reduce sulphur emissions. That was later changed to varying deadlines for different regions, with the period ending in 2022, and then extended last year to the end of 2025.

According to government data, just 40% of India's entire coal power capacity of 211.6 GW has been given bids for installing FGD, while another 4% has already done so.

Most of the bids awarded were by federal government-run NTPC. The order on Tuesday said power plants will be forcibly retired if they do not comply to norms on sulphur emissions by end 2027.

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