Lok Sabha Question No. 5410 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-04-06
Subject: Reduction of Pollution
Ministry: POWER
Asked by: YOGI ADITYANATH

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF POWER

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.5410 TO BE ANSWERED ON 06.04.2017

## REDUCTION OF POLLUTION

†5410.  SHRI YOGI ADITYA NATH:

Will the Minister of POWER be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government is working on any special plan for reducing the pollution level of coal-based thermal power plants in the country;

(b) if so, the details thereof; and

(c) the steps taken by the Government for modernisation of the thermal power plants?

## A N S W E R

THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR POWER, COAL, NEW & RENEWABLE ENERGY AND MINES

( SHRI  PIYUSH GOYAL )

(a) to (c) :   The  steps taken by Government to modernize and improve the efficiency  of  coal  based  thermal  power  plants  and  to  reduce  the  pollution level of coal based thermal power plants in the Country,  in the vicinity of these plants, are as under:

(i) Supercritical technology has already been adopted for thermal power generation.  The  design  efficiency  of  Supercritical  units  is  about  5% higher  than  that  of  typical  500  MW  subcritical  units  and  these (supercritical)  units  are  likely  to  have  correspondingly  lower  fuel consumption and CO2 emissions in ambient air. A capacity addition of 39,710 MW power based on supercritical technology has already been achieved and 48,060 MW of supercritical technology is in the pipeline.

- (ii) All Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPPs) are required to use supercritical technology.

............2.

- (iii) Coal  based  capacity  addition  during  the  13 th   Plan  period    shall  be through super-critical units.
- (iv) Indigenous research is being pursued for development of an Advanced Ultra Supercritical Technology (A-USC) with targeted efficiency improvement  of  about  10%  over  supercritical  unit.  Indira  Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR), NTPC Ltd. and BHEL signed an MoU,  in August 2010,  for development of 800 MW A-USC indigenous demonstration  plant  with  main  steam  pressure  of  310  kg/cm2  and temperature of 710/ 720 deg C.
- (v) A capacity of about 7751.94 MW of old and inefficient unit has already been retired till date.
- (vi) To facilitate  State  Utilities/IPPs  to  replace  old  inefficient  coal  based thermal units with supercritical units, Ministry of Coal, Government of India  has  formulated  a  policy  of  automatic  transfer  of  Letter  of Assurance (LOA)/Coal linkage (granted to old plants) to new (proposed) super-critical units.
- (vii) Perform Achieve and Trade (PAT) Scheme under National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency is under implementation by BEE (Bureau of Energy  Efficiency).  In  PAT  cycle-II,  individual  target  for  improving efficiency has been assigned to 154 thermal power stations.
- (viii) High efficiency Electrostatics Preceptor (ESP) are installed to capture Particulate Matters from Flue gases.
- (ix) Low  NOX  burners  are  installed  for  reducing  NOx  emission  from  flue gases.
- (x) SO2  emission  control  is  achieved  through  dispersion  of  flue  gases through  tall  stacks  (275  metres)  to  reduce  the  concentration  of polluting gases at ground level.

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