Centre moots proposal to close dirtiest coal power plants, aims to control air pollution

Aiming to control air pollution and enhance focus on climate change, the Union Power Ministry is formulating a proposal which may force some of the dirtiest coal plants to close, reports Bloomberg Quint.

The government's plan may cap the heat rate, which denotes the measure of how much of coal energy is needed to produce each unit of electricity. As per the plan, the government has identified powers stations, totalling 10 gigawatts, as breaching the proposal benchmark. If the proposal is approved, about 5 percent of coal power capacity may be impacted.

The proposed plan to shut down coal plants may boost the more-efficient facilities, which until now have remained un-utilised for years, besides addressing the air pollution and deepening concerns over the climate change.

If the proposal is accepted by the Union Power Ministry, a cap will be placed on the heat rate for coal plants at 2,600 kilocalories per kilowatt-hour of the electricity, which is higher considering few new plants aim to achieve.

Estimates say India has about 200 GW of coal-fired capacity, which is 54 percent of the country's total capacity. In the first five months of FY21, coal plants in India ran at an average 48 percent of capacity, while producing 64 percent for fulfilling the country's power requirement.

Experts told the website that the road to success for the proposal may not be easy for the Union government as state distribution firms might raise objections. States located near the coal mines rely on cheaper power.