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 771 bn KWh (excluding captive generation) in 2009-10. 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 the largest (80,000 circuit kms as on Sep 30 '10) grid sytems in the world and transmits over half of the 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.
9,585 MW of new power capacity was added to the grid in 2009-10 and over 21,000 MW has been targeted to added to the grid in 2010-11. Renewable sources of energy, mainly wind and small hydro, contributed seven per cent of total electricity generation in 2006. The 2012-17 Five Year Plan set by the Government of India calls for an additional 100,000 MW of generating capacity in which the private sector will play a major role.
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 | 640.5 |
| Hydel | 106.7 (+ Bhutan import 5.3) |
| Nuclear | 18.7 |
| 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.
- CLP Power India Pvt. Ltd.
- Power Finance Corporation 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sundargarh | Orissa | 4,000 |
Response to RfQ ext to Jan 31 '11 |
| Surguja | Chhattisgarh | 4,000 |
Response to RfQ ext to Jan 7 '11 |
| 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 20 reactors at six nuclear plant sites across India. The total nuclear power capacity amounts to 4780 MW and 18.8 billion kWh were generated in 2009-10. The 20th reactor, the Unit-4 (220 MWe) at KGS, Kaiga (Karnataka) achieved its first criticality on Nov 27 '10. Seven reactors with a capacity to generate 5300 MWe are under various stages of construction. BHAVINI is constucting a 500 MWe Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakkam and is expected to go on stream by 2010. The total nuclear power capacity is expected to increase to 7280 MW and 10080 by 2012 and 2017 respectively. The revised target set for 2020 is 20,000 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. 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 | 1,180 | 6 |
| Kalpakkam | Tamil Nadu | 390 | 2 |
| Narora | Uttar Pradesh | 440 | 2 |
| Kakrapur | Gujarat | 440 | 2 |
| Kaiga | Karnataka | 880 | 4 |
| Nuclear Power Plants Under Construction | |||
| Rawatbhata (Kota) | Rajasthan | 1,400 | 2 |
| Kakrapur | Gujarat | 1,400 |
2 |
| Kalpakkam | Tamil Nadu | 500 |
1 |
| 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 (~7 % global market share) in the world with an installed capacity of 14,989 MW at the end of Aug 2011, behind only China, USA, Germany and Spain. 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.
NRSE - Manufacturers and Related Links
- Centre for Wind Energy Technology
- Global Wind Energy Council
- Ministry of New and Renewable Energy
- 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 21,125 MW at the end of Aug 2010 and 619 MW off-grid renewable energy capacity. 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 (upto 25 MW) feed substantial amounts of electricity into the power grid.