Coal-fired power plants in India

Abstract

India has more than doubled its power generation capacity between the years 2000 to 2014 and coal accounts for more than 66% of its total electricity production. Since 1961, the ‘pit-head’ plant placement policy of India, directs preferential construction of plants near coal-mines. Consequently fewer than 60 districts (less than 10%) of India at present account for more that 90% of all coal-based installed capacity. In this paper we exploit the cross-sectional variation resulting from this ‘pit-head’ plant placement policy and the temporal variation induced by rapid capacity expansion to identify the distributional impacts of coal-fired power generation in India. We find that during this period every Giga-Watthour of coal-power generation has increased local ambient SO2 pollution by 32% and NO2 pollution by 5%. We also find localized adverse health impacts.