Abstract Due to the limitation of boiler operating condition, the NOx emission from coal-fired power plant will exceed the standard during the start-up period (the initial stage of grid connection). According to the specific situation of 1000MW ultra-supercritical coal-fired unit in Taizhou Power Generation Co., Ltd. of China Energy Group, this paper analyzes the NOx emission and the reasons for exceeding the standard in the start-up period of the unit. In order to solve this problem, this paper puts forward several measures to reduce NOx emission during unit start-up.