- 13 July, 2025
New Delhi, July 12, 2025– India has reversed a decade-old mandate to install $30 billion worth of clean-air equipment, easing sulphur emission norms for the majority of its coal-fired power plants, according to a government order.
Reuters reported in December that the government was reviewing 2015 regulations requiring nearly 540 coal-based power units to install flue-gas desulphurisation (FGD) systems, which remove sulphur from exhaust gases, in phases starting from 2027.
Late on Friday, the union environment ministry issued a gazette notification exempting 79% of coal-fired power plants located beyond a 10-kilometre (6-mile) radius of populated and polluted cities from the 2015 mandate.
For another 11% of plants near populated cities, the requirement to install FGD systems will be decided on a “case-by-case basis,” the notification stated.
Meanwhile, the remaining 10% of coal-fired power plants situated closer to New Delhi and other cities with populations exceeding one million will still be required to install desulphurisation equipment by December 2027, under the new rules.
The notification follows significant investments by state-run NTPC (NTPC.NS), India’s largest electricity producer, which has already spent around $4 billion installing the equipment at about 11% of its power plants. Approximately half of all coal power units have either placed orders for the systems or are in the process of installing them.
However, the Friday notification did not address how the changes might affect the competitiveness of these power plants or their ability to recover costs.
The environment ministry said the decision came after the Central Pollution Control Board conducted a detailed analysis of the increase in carbon dioxide emissions associated with the operation of the control measures currently being deployed.
Source : The Reuters
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