Power Generation - An Overview
A thermal powerplant in Kolkata. India's largest super thermal powerplants have capacities of over 2,000 MW each.
India is the fifth largest electricity producing nation in the world. Power generation has grown over 100 fold since independence to 724 bn KWh in 2008-09. Nevertheless, power shortages (approx. 10 % of total demand) prevail due to inadequte capacity, loss making state utilities, lack of comprehensive inter regional transmission links and high transmission losses mainly due to theft. Thermal powerplants generate the bulk of the electricity produced in the country. Nuclear power capacity, currently at 4,120 MWe, is expected to be augmented by an additional 2,440 MWe, currently under construction, by the year 2009. The power sector has seen vast reforms especially after the passage of the Electricity Act 2003 including the formation of independent regulators like CERC.
Power Grid Corp. (PGCIL) operates one of the largest (over 50,000 circuit kms) grid sytems in the world and transmits approximately 40 per cent of total power generated (excl. captive) in India. India's captive power plants generated 68.2 bn kWh of electricity during 2003-04. Large captive power users include the aluminium, petrochemical and iron and steel industrial sectors.
While the total additional power capacity targeted for the year ending Mar '10 is 14,507 MW, 6,257 MW of capacity addition had been commissioned upto Nov '09. Renewable sources of energy, mainly wind and small hydro, contributed seven per cent of total electricity generation in 2006.
Over 82 per cent of the nearly 600,000 villages spread across India have been electified at the end of Aug 08.
| Type | Generation Billion kWh |
|---|---|
| Thermal | 527.6 |
| Hydel | 113.4 |
| Nuclear | 18.6 |
| Wind | 2.8² |
| Captive (>1 MW) | 68.2¹ |
| ¹ Captive (2003-04) includes 39.6 bn KWh Steam, 13.4 bn KWh Diesel, 14.9 bn KWh Gas Turbine, 0.2 bn KWh
Wind and 0.1 bn KWh Hydro generated power. ² Wind power based on figures for the year 2003-04. |
|
Power Related Links
- Ministry of Power
- Central Electricity Regulatory Commission
- Central Electricity Authority
- Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd.
- Rural Electrification Corp. Ltd.
- Reliance Energy
- Damodar Valley Corporation
- Power Grid Corp. of India Ltd.
- Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co. Ltd.
- The Tata Power Co. Ltd.
Independent Power Projects
Private power projects commissioned and under construction >>
Thermal Power
India had a thermal generating capacity of ca 100,000 MW at the end of 2009.
| Plant | State | Capacity (MWe¹) | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sasan | Madhya Pradesh | 4,000 | Project awarded to Reliance Power |
| Mundra | Gujarat | 4,000 | Project awarded to Tata Power |
| Krishnapatnam | Andhra Pradesh | 4,000 | Project awarded to Reliance Energy |
| Tilaiya | Jharkhand | 4,000 | Project awarded to Reliance Energy |
Hydro Power
India has has a hydro generating capacity of 36,348 MW as on Sep 30 2008.
- Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd.
- National Hydroelectric Power Corp. (NHPC)
- Tehri Hydro Development Corporation Ltd.
- North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Ltd.
Nuclear Power
An Overview
Nuclear power generates less than 3 per cent of India's total electricity consumption. NPCIL, a public sector unit, operates 17 reactors at six nuclear plant sites across India. The 17th reactor, the Unit-3 (220 MWe) at Kaiga (Karnataka) went into commercial operation in May 2007 and uses natural uranium as fuel and heavy water as a coolant and moderator. Five reactors with a capacity to generate 2,880 MWe are under various stages of construction. In addition, BHAVINI is constucting a 500 MWe Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakkam and is expected to go on stream by 2010. Thus 6,380 MWe additional nuclear capacity is envisaged by March 2012 with a total capacity of 10,280 MW. The revised target set for 2020 is a mind-boggling 40,000 MWe. Fast breeder technology uses spent fuel of plutonium and uranium from the Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR, elsewhere known as CANDU) of the the other NPCIL plants. Uranium is mined by the Uranium Corp. of India Ltd. in Jaduguda, Jharkhand. The Nuclear Fuel Complex at Hyderabad fabricates the required nuclear fuel assemblies for the eventual generation of electricity. Thorium, due to large reserves in India, is also used used as nuclear fuel. A shortage in uranium supplies has resulted in a dip in nuclear power production during 2007-08 (approx. 17 bn kWh) compared to the previous year. New nuclear power plant clusters are plannedin collaboration with potential nuclear vendors such as Areva NP, GE-Hitachi, Westinghouse Electric and Atomstroyexport.
Nuclear Map of India >>
- Nuclear Power Corp. of India
- Department of Atomic Energy
- Atomic Energy Regulatory Board
- Bhabha Atomic Research Center - Trombay (Mumbai)
- Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research - Kalpakkam
- Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre - Kolkata
- Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited (BHAVINI) - Kalpakkam
Nuclear Related Links
| Plant | State | Capacity (MWe)¹ | Reactors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tarapur | Maharashtra | 1,400 | 4 |
| Rawatbhata (Kota) | Rajasthan | 740 | 4 |
| Kalpakkam | Tamil Nadu | 390 | 2 |
| Narora | Uttar Pradesh | 440 | 2 |
| Kakrapur | Gujarat | 440 | 2 |
| Kaiga | Karnataka | 660 | 3 |
| Nuclear Power Plants Under Construction | |||
| Tarapur | Maharashtra | 540 | 1 |
| Kaiga | Karnataka | 220 | 1 |
| Rawatbhata (Kota) | Rajasthan | 440 | 2 |
| Kudamkulam | Tamil Nadu | 2,000 | 2 |
| ¹ Megawatts of electrical output | |||
Wind Power
A small windfarm with four installed turbines with a capacity of about one MW at Frasergunj, along the West Bengal coast.
The NRSE (New and Renewable Sources of Energy) sector is set to provide 10 per cent of the installed capacity by 2012 although harnessing NRSE to its full potential would mean a capacity addition in the range of 100,000 MW. India has the fifth largest wind power generating capacity (8 % global market share) in the world with an installed capacity of approx. 10,891 MW at the end of Oct '09, behind only USA, Germany, Spain and China. Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat and Rajasthan have the largest installed capacities of wind power facilities in India. Wind power potential is largest in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Rajasthan, as each has a potential to generate wind power in excess of 5,000 MW. An additional 1,800 MW of wind generating power capacity was added in 2008 thus placing India in the third position after the United States and China for new capacity installed. An estimated total capacity of 18,000 MW would be in place by 2011.
NRSE - Manufacturers and Related Links
- Centre for Wind Energy Technology
- Global Wind Energy Council
- Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources
- Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited
- Indian Wind Energy Association
- WinWinD India
- Enercon India
- Suzlon Energy Ltd.
- Vestas RRB India Ltd.
- India Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association
- West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Agency (WBREDA)
Other Renewable Sources of Energy (RES)
Other renewable sources of energy include small hydro projects (incl. tidal), solar, biomass gas, Biomass power and urban industrial waster power. The total generating capacity of RES grid units (incl. wind power units) amounted to 15,225 MW at the end of 2009. Although wind energy holds a lion's share in the production of electricity among renewable sources of energy, bio-based power (agro residues & plantations), bagasse (sugar cane fibre residue) cogeneration and small hydro power plants feed substantial amounts of electricity into the power grid.