The Centre has decided to extend the December 2017 deadline for coal-fired thermal power projects to meet stricter emission norms and allow time to replace old plants with modern less-polluting units, Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday.
"We took up the issue with Environment Ministry. They agreed with us that the deadline should be extended, so that old polluting plants can be replaced with supercritical super-efficient plants. This will reduce the pollution to just 10 per cent of the existing (emission) levels of these old plants," Goyal told reporters on the sidelines of an event here organised by the country's largest power generator NTPC.
In December 2015, the Environment Ministry had laid down norms for thermal power plants to reduce emissions of particulate matter (PM10), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) in order to improve the air quality around the generating units
"I don't want that we import equipment (for meeting emission norms). We realised after discussions that it would put more burden on the consumer and they will have to pay more for electricity," Goyal said.
The minister, who has spoken in favour of replacing old power plants with new supercritical units, has already asked the NTPC to replace plants over 25 years old, with an aggregate capacity of 11,000MW, at a cost of Rs 50,000 crore in the next three to four years. The company board has approved the plan.
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Goyal said the companies will only have a nominal impact on their capital expenditures if old power plants are replaced.
"Power companies will not incur more than Rs 4,000 crore per megawatt if they replace old plants," he said.
--IANS
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