Construction Industry News
According to a recent report published on March 16, several coal-fired power plants in Delhi-NCR have made very little progress in following instructions to use biomass or agricultural residues for electricity generation. According to the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), which conducted the study, a recent announcement (February 2023) from the Environment Ministry has given these plants additional leeway to delay compliance with the guidelines.
The Union's Ministry of Electricity had ordered the facilities to use biomass or agricultural waste to replace five to ten percent of the coal they use to generate energy by October 2021.
This was done to solve the dual problems of pollution and stubble burning. In September 2022, these plants had to reach 5% co-firing and the following year they had to increase this to 7%.
But according to the green think group, Delhi-NCR factories have rarely made progress.
In addition to following the ministry's directive, the 11 coal-fired power plants in Delhi-NCR also received an additional directive from the Air Quality Management Commission (CAQM) to add biomass in September 2021.
According to the CAQM Act of 2021, any violation of the CAQM Directive is a crime that is "punishable by imprisonment" for a time that can last up to five years or with a fine of up to Rs 10 million or both.
Nivit Kumar Yadav, program director, industrial pollution, CSE, said, "Our study shows that cumulatively less than one percent of the coal consumed per year in these 11 plants had been replaced by agro-residues until December 2022."
According to the power plants surveyed by CSE, they do not have a consistent long-term supply of pellets. The biomass pellet production facility has been requested by the Indira Gandhi thermal power plant in Jhajjar, Haryana, but has not yet been built.
While there are few pellet producers in the country, there is a mismatch between supply and demand, according to Yadav.
According to government documents, power plants in Delhi-NCR have issued long-term tenders for nearly 12 million tonnes of biomass pellets; However, the study showed that 73% of these tenders have not yet been awarded.
The Rajiv Gandhi TPP, Yamuna Nagar TPP and Panipat TPP, three power plants owned by the Government of Haryana, have issued both short- and long-term tenders, but none of these orders have been completed.
The only coal-based power plants in Delhi-NCR that have successfully placed long-term orders through December 2022 are the Mahatma Gandhi TPP, Dadri TPP and Indira Gandhi TPP, according to the statement.
The study also showed that in five of the 11 plants, including Panipat TPP, Mahatma Gandhi TPP, Nabha TPP, Ropar TPP and Guru Hargobind TPP, the biomass pelletders issued are of a much smaller amount than is needed to replace 5% of coal-based fuel for the "actual" generation of electricity in the 2021-2022 financial year, said it.
According to yadav, there is a clear reluctance on the part of the power plants in Delhi-NCR to adhere to the policy on co-firing of biomass. These plants rarely burn biomass together. Most factories are concerned about supply chain issues and have not taken decisive action to reassure pellet manufacturers or address their concerns.
The Union Environment Ministry issued a new biomass co-firing notification on 16 February after the deadline in September 2022 and more than a year and a half since the order was issued by the Ministry of Electricity and the CAQM. The amended notification reduced the amount of the additional allowance to 5% and extended the compliance periods by a further two years.
Mr Yadav said: "As had happened with the emission standards, the new notification has diluted the standards and pushed back the deadlines for co-firing biomass, exempting the coal-fired power plants from the responsibility of slow absorption of policy implementation."
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