The government has identified 7,738 MW inefficient thermal plants, which would be replaced with supercritical units, to conserve scarce natural resources like land, water and coal.
The replacement will result in creation of 18,560 MW of capacity as per the assessment of power generation utilities.
The move is expected to not just save natural resources, but also help in boosting the generation capacity of the plants.
Breaking down the numbers, state power generation utilities have marked out 6,608 MW for the purpose, which will lead to the creation of 16,580 MW.
The central utilities have marked 1,130 MW for replacement that will create 1,980 MW, going forward.
As on March 31, 2016, the capacity of coal-based thermal plants that are more than 25 years old was about 37,453 MWw, including 35,509 MW in the government sector and 1,947 MW in private space.
The new guidelines for coal-based power stations were introduced in December 2015 to cut down the emission of PM10, SO2 and NOx and improve ambient air quality around plants.
The ministry for the first time had fixed SOx and NOx norms for such stations and mandated that plants must adhere to these guidelines by 2017.
