Author: PPD Team Date: 13/01/2025

The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has issued a fourth extension for thermal power plants (TPPs) to meet sulphur dioxide (SO₂) emission standards. Category A now by December 31, 2027; Category B by December 31, 2028; and Category C by December 31, 2029. The latest notification, dated December 30, 2024, revises the deadlines for the installation of flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) systems.

Timeline of compliance extensions:

  • 2015: MoEF&CC set strict emission norms for coal-fired TPPs, with an original deadline of 2017.
  • 2017: A seven-year extension was requested by the Union Ministry of Power, with the Supreme Court granting a five-year extension until 2022. Plants in the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) were to comply by 2019.
  • 2021: MoEF&CC issued a notification on April 1 to form a task force, later established on April 16, to categorise 596 coal TPPs based on location. Categories A, B, and C were formed with varying compliance deadlines.
    • Category A: Plants within 10 km of NCR or cities with populations above one million, required to comply by December 31, 2022.
    • Category B: Plants within 10 km of critically polluted areas or non-attainment cities, required to comply by December 31, 2023.
    • Category C: All other plants, originally scheduled to comply by December 31, 2024.
  • 2022: New deadlines were introduced for non-retiring TPPs — Category A by December 31, 2024; Category B by December 31, 2025; and Category C by December 31, 2026.
  • 2024: The MoEF&CC extended deadlines further — Category A now by December 31, 2027; Category B by December 31, 2028; and Category C by December 31, 2029.

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