Coal-based power plants

On 15 May 2015, the Government of India came out with a draft notification on emission standards for coal based thermal power plants, opening it up for public comments. Till the time, there had been no specific emission standards for thermal power plants, except in respect of Particulate Matters which was also very high when compared to global standards.

There has been a series of publications in recent years by civil society groups like Greenpeace, Urban Emissions, Centre for Science and Environment on thermal power plants which have made headlines in India.  Some of the country’s premier engineering institutes have also came out with an extensive review on atmospheric pollution from coal based thermal power plants in India, such as this from the  Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi in May 2014.

Raichur Coal based Thermal Power Plant. Pic: Tanzeel Ahad

 

A simple Google search on the health impact of thermal power plants in India will yield millions of results. A recent scientific publication in a highly rated open source journal PNAS showed how the per- hectare yield of rice and wheat have decreased over the last decade owing to the increasing concentration of aerosols produced as secondary pollution from thermal power plants.  The problem was grave and pressure from civil society as well as attention from research institutes made it imperative for the Government of India to come out with the first ever draft notification on specific emission standards for coal-based thermal power plant.

The Centre for Science and Environment which recently published the green ratings of thermal power plants in India has welcomed the move of the Government and expressed satisfaction with the new norms proposed. “We believe these lower standards are acceptable given technical and economic limitations in installing pollution control equipment in older units” said Priyavrat Bhati, CSE’s Director for Green Ratings Project through the official press release.

The Narendra Modi-led government has been much criticised for diluting the environmental law of the country in order to accelerate industrialisation and the compliments for the draft standards make one curious to explore if it is indeed going to be effective in reducing emissions and providing cleaner air................................................................................

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India's Regional Power Trade.

NEW DELHI: India has emerged as a hub of south Asian transmission network but daily spark of day-ahead trading is missing in its cross-border power trade due to regulatory hurdles.

Indian power exchanges have petitioned the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission to open doors to spot buyers from neighbouring countries as millions of units go waste at home due to busy transmission lines or poor appetite of financially stressed state utilities.

Tata Power has petitioned the regulator for permission to import power from its 126 mw Dagachhu hydel project in Bhutan through the Indian exchanges for sale in India till bilateral contracts are signed. Industry sources say there are consumers in Nepal and Bangladesh, countries with large unmet demand, willing to buy power from the Indian spot market.

But for the regulator, it is a grey area as the existing policy does not reflect the changing reality of expanding interlinks with neighbouring countries and power projects coming up in Bhutan and Bangladesh with Indian private investments. The government is examining the new reality and at least Tata Power's case is pending the external affairs ministry's approval.

The Indian grid is connected with Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal. Plans for establishing interlinks with Pakistan and Sri Lanka have remained enmeshed in the complexities of bilateral politics. Trade through the existing interlinks is guided by bilateral arrangements between governments. There is no third-party transit through the Indian network. India imports power from hydel projects it has set up in Bhutan and supplies electricity from a Central pool to Nepal and Bangladesh.

The Dagachhu hydel project is the first of several private power projects being built on foreign soil for supplying to local market, India or a third country. Reliance Power and Adani group recently inked deal for large power plants in Bangladesh.

The petitions by power exchanges point out that the ground is ready for cross-border trading because of financial and regulatory similarities in electricity markets of the interlinked countries. Initially, the volumes are expected to be small due to limited interlink capacity. But with plans for their expansion, a full-on regional power market is just round the corner, much in line with the scenario in Europe.

India, with a rapidly expanding generation capacity - estimated at 2.72 gw (giga watt) at last count - and surrounded by deficit countries, can be in the driver's seat only if it moves fast.
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