Coal Kills

2. COAL-FIRED THERMAL POWER PLANTS in INDIA
India is the 4 th largest consumer of electricity in the world, with coal as the primary fuel of choice
for power generation and this will only get larger in the coming years. Most of the existing coalfired
TPPs are based on conventional pulverized coal or fluidized bed combustion technology.
Some newer projects plan to use supercritical- and ultra- steam conditions, which offer better
performance ratios.
Figure 2: (a) Sources of electricity in India, based on the installed capacity in 2013 and (b)
Growth of installed power generation in India
Source: Central Electrical Authority, 2013
Coal-fired power comes with significant
costs to environment and human health.
The water runoff from coal washeries
carries pollution loads of heavy metals that
contaminate ground water, rivers, and
lakes - thus affecting aquatic flora and
fauna. Fly-ash residue and pollutants settle
on soil contaminating areas and are
Table 2: Summary of new emissions standards
(all in mg/Nm 3 ) for the coal-fired Thermal
Power Plants 10
PM SO2 NO2 Mercury
India a 50 - - -
China b 30 100 100 0.03
Australia b 50 - 500 -
European Union b 50 200 200 -
USA b 22.5 160 117 0.001
especially harmful to agricultural activities. Most importantly for human health, combustion of
coal releases emissions of SO 2 , NO x , PM, CO, VOCs, and various trace metals like mercury, into
the air through stacks that can disperse this pollution over large areas. To date, the
environmental regulations lag behind those observed in the developed countries like the United
States, the European Union, China, and Japan, with no control regulations for SO 2 , NO x , and
Mercury (Table 2). Given the plans to greatly expand the contribution of coal to the Indian power
sector, it is vital that decision makers understand the hidden costs of air pollution from coal fired
TPPs.
10 Sources for the data are (a) http://cpcb.nic.in/Industry_Specific_Standards.php and (b) http://www.airclim.org/acidnews/china-newemission-standards-power-plants
6 | Coal-fired TPPs in India