India is reviewing a decade-old $30 billion program requiring coal-fired power plants to install equipment to cut sulfur emissions after government-backed studies showed they had little impact on curbing pollution, according to a document.
Nearly 540 power plant units were required by 2026 to install flue-gas desulphurization (FGD) systems that remove sulfur from the plants' exhaust gases but only about 8 percent have done so, including those run by state-run NTPC and privately held JSW Power.
The government previously said expensive foreign technology and manpower were some of the hurdles in achieving the target. But with cities like New Delhi and Kanpur some of the most polluted in the world, India's government is under pressure to reduce the impact of the sector's emissions.
