Checklist for CEMS Implementation

India has set challenging new emission limits for sources such as coal-fired power plants. For this legislation to be effective, the sector must be able to monitor emissions accurately to ensure that any preventative measures or reduction strategies will be effective and can be verified. Continuous emission monitoring systems (CEMS) have been developed to automate the accurate quantification of various pollutants from emission sources. CEMS must be operated and maintained to minimum performance standards to produce consistently valid emission measurements.
Europe and the USA have established best practices in CEMS monitoring over decades. India plans to evolve their national guidelines and to develop their own CEMS equipment certification system. Under the current CEMS guidelines, the Indian government allows operators to certify and to quality assure CEMS using either the European or US approach. Although the approaches are similar, there are inherent differences. Similar or even identical equipment is used, but the methodologies are not identical, and the European and US systems are not designed to be merged. Therefore, it is inappropriate to switch readilybetween the two approaches unless the applicable requirements are met – a single operational approach must be used over the lifetime of a CEMS.
This document is intended to act as a single guidance document on best practices for the implementation of CEMS in India, regardless of which international approach is used. This should be a living document to be updated by Indian stakeholders as the country moves towards establishing its own unified guidance documents.