Power plants falter on green regulations

A staggering 90 per cent of coal-based thermal power plants in India fare unsatisfactorily on the environmental front. While state-owned power generation companies are among the worst performers, plants owned by private firms have performed better on environmental and energy parameters. In a report released by the Centre for Science and Environment, the plants rated the best were owned by firms from the private sector. These facilities included CESC´s Budge Budge (West Bengal), JSW Energy´s Torangallu (Karnataka) and three from Maharashtra – Tata Power´s Trombay plant, JSW Energy´s Ratnagiri facility and Reliance Infrastructure´s Dahanu plant. Among the top 10 performers, eight were private companies. ´Even the best coal plants in India are average (in terms of environment performance) when compared to their counterparts worldwide,´ said the report, titled ´Heat on Power – Green Rating of Coal-based Thermal Power Plants´.