NEWSCAN
Telangana, West Bengal, Gujarat producing highest amount of unclean coal power NEW DELHI: An analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment has found Telangana, West Bengal, and Gujarat to be the top three states producing and procuring unclean coal-based power which is severely affecting the environment. The CSE study assessed and ranked the states and Union territories (UTs) based on how much electricity they get from unclean coal-fired power plants. It found West Bengal, Telangana, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, and Tamil Nadu to be the major defaulters as per the study. The report states that these states have been procuring around 60 per cent of their thermal power from unclean coal-fired stations on an average. Of the nine states buying maximum unclean power, only Gujarat and West Bengal have the full authority to monitor the stations for they are located within their state boundaries. The rest of the states have dual accountability of cleaning up both
30 January 2021 | www.urbanupdate.in
their own stations as well as ensuring that stations supplying to them from other states are clean. According to Soundaram Ramanathan, Deputy Programme Manager, Industrial Pollution Unit, CSE, coal-fired power plants, which have not made any progress to comply with the emission norms so far have been termed ‘unclean’, and those who have awarded work to meet the standards have been considered under the ‘cleaner’ coal-fired stations. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had notified emission norms for particulate matter, sulphur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen in 2015. These had to be complied with by power stations from 2017. Nivit Kumar Yadav, Programme Director, Industrial Pollution, CSE, mentioned that the coal-fired power stations emit three major pollutants, including particulate matter, oxides of nitrogen, and sulphur dioxide. He added that power stations have been specially lagging behind in their
compliance with the sulphur dioxide norms. Hence, the researchers from CSE in this study have considered the progress made by stations to meet the sulphur dioxide norm as a measuring scale to identify the ‘dirtiest’ power. Current installed power capacity in India is 374 gigawatts (GW). Coal and ignite contribute 55 per cent, and account for around 205.8 GW of the total power capacity installed. Renewable sources such as solar, wind, and biomass account for 90 GW of the total. Data available on the website of the Ministry of Power states that of around 162 GW of coal power capacity, 58 per cent on an average comes from ‘unclean’ coal-based power plants. According to the study, 84 per cent of the thermal power comes from “unclean” coal-based power plants in West Bengal, which are far away from meeting the norms made on emissions of sulphur dioxide. This figure stands at 71 per cent in Gujarat and at 74 per cent in Telangana. The study also found that unclean power stations were one of the key sources of ambient air pollution in non-attainment cities in Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu. Unclean power stations in Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, and Uttar Pradesh are located in clusters, and the study mentions that they are not making sufficient efforts to comply with the norms. The assessment established that Delhi and Goa are presently very close in terms of procuring clean power — only 5-8 per cent of their electricity comes from unclean sources. The researchers found only 13 states across the nation to be sourcing 100 per cent of their requirements from clean coal-based power stations. These states are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chandigarh, Daman & Diu, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir.
