Government to adopt latest tech for thermal power plants overhaul

Kolkata: The Bengal government has decided to adopt the most advanced technology to increase the life span of five state-owned thermal power plants by another 20-25 years.

The state Power department will tie up with a multinational company that will provide technical assistance to the government in order to increase the life span of all the five government owned thermal power plants in the state.

The multinational company that has an expertise in this field will help the department to check harmful gases emanating from these power plants, thereby reducing the pollution level.

It may be mentioned that the Centre has asked the state government to dismantle the age-old coal based power plants as they cause pollution.

The Bengal government is not only trying to find out an alternative path to reduce the pollution level but also to increase their life shelves for two more decades by introducing the latest technology, believe power department officials.

State power minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay said a multinational company, with which the state Power department is in touch, has come up with machineries to check emission of harmful gases, including Carbon dioxide (CO2), Sulfur dioxide (SO2), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), Lead (Pb), Mercury (Hg) and Fly ash among others and also help the power plants to run longer. The minister, however, did not want to mention the name of the company.

"Our department has only come up with the idea of checking carbon dioxide emissions but the multinational company has prepared machineries that will be able help us check emissions of all polluting articles. We are in the process of adopting the new technology so that the power plants run for another 25 years," Chattopadhyay said.

When asked whether the state government can adopt this new technology acting in the contrary to the Centre's theory of dismantling the old plants, the state power minister said: "Of course, the Centre will allow us to adopt the new technology. In case of the new super critical power plant that is coming up at Sagardighi, all parameters related to pollution are followed. But in case of the old ones, we are trying to make them pollution free by adopting this new technology."

The thermal power plants in the state are at Kolaghat in East Midnapore, Bakreswar in Birbhum, Sagardighi in Murshidabad, Santaldih in Purulia and Bandel in Hooghly.

West Bengal Power Development Corporation Limited (WBPDCL), a state government-owned company looks after the business of thermal power generation in the state.