Better Coal Management: Derailed Generation Sector’s prime requirement

Last updated: Feb 05, 2017 

Significant Generation Capacity Addition:

India has achieved significant generation capacity addition in the last 50 years. The current installed capacity of Indian power system is 305.5 GW (as on Aug 2016) with coal based power plants having a share of nearly 61 percent. Thus, coal based thermal power plants dominate the current Indian generation scenario and in the future also.

India to be among the most rapidly growing countries:

Recent studies by the US department of energy indicate that China, India and Brazil will be the most rapidly growing countries in terms of electrical demand. This is clearly echoed in the report of the “Working Group on Power”, Government of India, Ministry of Power, 2012, in which the additional generation capacity to be added in the 12^th Five Year Plan is stated as 76 GW. It needs to add another 170 GW of installed generation capacity in the next decade to get the desired 9% growth in GDP and this can be achieved only through large capacity power projects. 

Concept of Ultra Mega Power Project:

In view of this, the Government of India has come up with the concept of Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP). These coal powered, super-critical technology based power projects, each with a capacity of 4 GW or more is a series of ambitious power projects planned by the Government of India.

Various Issues in Coal Management Activities:

The various coal management activities such as planning, contracting, procurement, logistics and delivery are managed by different agencies. Thermal power plants, other than pit-head plants, rely on ship, rail or road transportation services to deliver coal from the sources to their plant location. Coal inventory management at the thermal power plant involves accounting of received and consumed coal. 

Many thermal plants have in-adequate automation and management system, often leading to inaccurate coal requirement forecasting. Tracking of coal transportation is also not very advanced. All this lead to inefficiencies and uncertain conditions causing either power plant outage due to lack of coal or un-necessary piling up of coal inventory and blocking of resources. 

Generating companies typically stock up coal for nearly 10 days of operation. The financial loss on account of power plant shut down because of non-availability of coal can be as much as 2 million USD per day for a thermal power plant of 1000 MW.

Therefore, the performance of Indian generation sector is going to be greatly affected by the coal supply management to its coal based thermal power plants. Officials say that the coal production is the same since the last 5 years and the credit goes to improper planning, policies and prevailing corrupt practices. Adding to the wound is the recent declaration of Supreme Court of India which states that the entire allocation of coal blocks from 1993 to 2010 was illegal, arbitrary and non-transparent.

There are situations when majority of coal based power plant in India have left with less than 7 days of coal stock. Many coal based power plants of the Central, State and private sector have been shut down in the past on account of in-adequate coal supply. This also increases the spot price of electricity at the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX). Same situation has aroused in year 2012 also.

Properly Integrated and Automated Coal Management System is required:

The message is loud and clear that the country’s power sector and hence the growth is dependent largely on the coal supply to the thermal power plants. A properly integrated and automated coal management system is required to keep the coal inventory to a minimum, at the same time ensuring un-interrupted power generation.

A better and efficient coal management system has to be derived keeping in view the various Ultra Mega Power Projects coming up in the 12^th and 13^th FYP. Special attention has to be given for demand side management so that the load can be properly managed during such a crisis.

Ref:

www.cea.nic.in/reports/monthly/inst_capacity

Hindustan Times, 4^th sep. 2014

Ultra Mega Power Projects: For the desired GDP growth in India

Last updated: January 20, 2017

Formidable Challenges in Indian Power Sector:

India has achieved significant generation capacity addition in the last 50 years. Despite of this it continues to face formidable challenges in bridging the gap between demand and supply. It needs to add another 170 GW of installed generation capacity in the next decade to get the desired 9% growth in GDP and this can be achieved only through large capacity power projects. 

Ultra Mega Power Project:

In view of this, the Government of India has come up with the concept of Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP). These coal powered, super-critical technology based power projects, each with a capacity of 4 GW or more and each unit of 660 MW or 800 MW is a series of ambitious power projects planned by the Indian Government. So far 16 UMPPs have been envisaged in various states including Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu. Estimated investment in each UMPP is approximately Rs 20,000 to 30,000 crores.

Super-critical Thermal power plants:

The term “super-critical” is used for power plants operating at pressure above critical pressure; i.e. plants operating above 225.56 kg/cm² and 374.15 ^oC are called super-critical thermal power plants. Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has evaluated super-critical technology from the technical and economical point of view and has recommended the same for Indian thermal power plants. Super-critical thermal generating units of 660 MW (steam pressure of 247 kg/cm² and temperature of 535/563 ^oC) and 800 MW (temperature of 565/593 ^oC) is proposed for all future thermal power plants.

Super-critical Technology:

Power plants based on super-critical technology has the advantage of lower CO₂, NO_X, and SO_X emission per kWh of electricity produced in comparison to sub-critical power plants. As per the Government decision, in the 13^th FYP only super-critical technology based thermal power plants would be set up in India.

The average tariff for these projects is in the range of  Rs 2-3 per unit which is much lower than the recent tariffs. The projects are awarded to developers on tariff-based International Competitive Bidding (ICB) on a Build-Own-Operate (BOO) basis. CEA is the technical partner and Power Finance Corporation (PFC) is the nodal agency for getting the basic infrastructure like land, water supply, environment clearances, etc. In order to enhance investors’ confidence, and reduce risk perception, PFC incorporates Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) for each UMPP to undertake the bidding process on behalf of the beneficiary states. Apart from bid process, the purpose of the SPVs is to obtain various clearances for the projects.

Significant UMPP:

The first UMPP, developed by Tata Power at Mundra, Gujarat has been commissioned and contributes 4,000 MW (8 x 800 MW) of power to the Western grid. Sasan UMPP, a 3,960 MW (6 x 660 MW) pit-head power plant is located in Madhya Pradesh. The project has been allocated three captive coal mine blocks; with an envisaged production of 25 million tonnes of coal per annum. When completed, this UMPP become the largest integrated coal-cum-power plant in the country involving almost 10,000 acres of land of which almost 7,000 acres would be coal mines.

The project was awarded to Reliance Power through ICB process in August 2007. The estimated project cost is over Rs. 27,000 crores (US$ 4.2 billion). Sasan is the first ever integrated-power cum coal mine project with current operational capacity of 2640 MW. First unit of 660 MW was commissioned in March 2013, second unit in January 2014, third unit in April 2014 and fourth unit in May 2014. 5th Unit is synchronized with grid and commissioning to be declared shortly. 6th and last unit is in advanced stage of commissioning and expected to be commissioned in the next couple of months. 

Power generated from the plant would be sold in Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand states of India at a levelized tariff of 1.196 INR/ kWh. The low tariff of the project is primarily because of the low cost of generation due to its pit head location and captive mines. Because of the advanced 'super-critical' boiler technology, the operating efficiency is higher and emissions are reduced, thereby making it a less polluting thermal power plant.


The Tilaiya UMPP also by Reliance Power, is another integrated pit

pit-head power plant with an aggregate capacity of 4 GW located at  
Jharkhand.

As on March 2014, India had 13.9 GW of installed generation capacity based on super-critical technology; of which Adani Power has commissioned the maximum of 6.6 GW (10 units of 660 MW) with plant location at Mundra, Tiroda (Maharashtra) and Kawai (Rajasthan) . The 3 x 660 MW Sipat-I is the only UMPP in the public sector owned by NTPC, the rest have been commissioned by private sector.

Ref:

www.pfcindia.com

wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra_Mega_Power_Projects

www.reliancepower.co.in

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