The mortality impacts of current and planned coal-fired power plants in India.

We examine the health implications of electricity generation from the 2018 stock of coal-fired power plants in India, as well as the health impacts of the expansion in coal-fired generation capacity expected to occur by 2030. We estimate emissions of SO, NO, and particulate matter 2.5 μm (PM) for each plant and use a chemical transport model to estimate the impact of power plant emissions on ambient PM Concentration-response functions from the 2019 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) are used to project the impacts of changes in PM on mortality.

Applying Benefit-Cost Analysis to Air Pollution Control in the Indian Power Sector.

Air pollution is a persistent and well-established public health problem in India: emissions from coal-fired power plants have been associated with over 80,000 premature deaths in 2015. Premature deaths could rise by four to five times this number by 2050 without additional pollution controls. We site a model 500 MW coal-fired electricity generating unit at eight locations in India and examine the benefits and costs of retrofitting the plant with a flue-gas desulfurization unit to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions.