Environmental Status of Coal-Based Thermal Power Plants in the National Captial Region

November 24, 2023

In this factsheet, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) assesses the particulate matter (SPM), nitrogen oxide (NOx) and sulphur di-oxide (SO2) emissions reported by coal-based thermal power plants in the Delhi-NCR to the Central Electricity Authority, the technical arm of the Ministry of Power. During the reporting period (April’22 to August’23), five out of 11 plants in the NCR have poorly reported monitoring data. During the reporting period, all these power plants in the NCR—barring one—have exceeded SO2 norms, three have exceeded SPM norms and four have exceeded NOx norms. The plants may not be in violation of the 2015 MoEF&CC notification due to extended deadlines granted to them for compliance with the norms. Nonetheless, such high emissions for SPM, NOx and SO2 from the coal power plants will only worsen the pollution in the NCR as coal energy generation is a major source of air pollution.