(PTI)
Indian power companies are seeking billions of dollars of federal funding to retrofit coal-fired plants to cut emissions, saying hefty tariff increases would otherwise be needed to pay for the technology, according to internal documents. Private companies such as Reliance Power Ltd, Adani Power Ltd and GMR and state-run NTPC Ltd, have also asked for an extension to a December deadline to meet the new pollution standards. The government, which has been pushing a clean energy campaign hard, has given no indication it would be willing to fork out the money for the new technology, which the private companies estimate to cost as much as $38 billion, potentially setting up a confrontation with the industry. Thermal power companies account for 80 percent of all industrial emissions of particulate matter, sulphur and nitrous oxides in India, and their slowness in complying with new standards shows the difficulties India faces in cleaning up its air, among the most polluted in the world.
