The Chhattisgarh State Power Generation Company ltd (CSPGCl) has planned to retire 4x50 MW units of 'Korba Thermal Power Station (TPS)-II East' from June 2016 onwards, says a report of Central Electricity Authority (CEA)
The report titled ‘Replacement of old and inefficient sub-critical units by super critical units/ retirement/renovation’ was prepared in September this year, mentioned that the Union Ministry of Power, in August 2015, requested CEA to prepare the report for optimum utilization of scarce natural resources like land, water and coal’.
The report mentioned that the Korba East TPS-II; despite being very old, the 4x50 MW units are performing well with PlF around 60 per cent.
However, heat rate of these units are very high. These units were installed in the year 1966-68 and are non-reheat units.
Regarding Korba East TPS-III, the report mentioned :The 2x120 MW units are performing well in terms of PlF, these units have undergone R&M in 2002-05. These are re-heat type units and are not to be phased out. Setting up of replacement unit is not feasible at this site due to land constraints, it stated.
In order to conserve scarce natural resources, Union Ministry of Power advised CEA in August 2015 to prepare a report on “Replacement of old and inefficient units with supercritical units” and explore possibility of replacing the old & inefficient thermal generating units by installing supercritical units, the CEA report stated.
The issue was earlier highlighted during a Meeting taken by Secretary, Power on April 20, 2015 wherein CEA was requested to identify retired power plant which can be replaced with Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPP’s).
The CEA vide letter No.149/UMPP/Gen/TPI/CEA/2015 dated April 30, 2015 and dated May15, 2015 had submitted a brief note on replacement of old and inefficient units with UMPP’s.
Subsequently, a meeting was taken by Joint Secretary (Thermal), in the Union Ministry of Power in the month of June 2015 wherein the concerned State Government. highlighted the constraints for acquisition of additional land in the nearby vicinity. This was mainly due to rapid urbanization in the vicinity of existing thermal stations. It was, therefore, decided to explore the possibility of replacement of old and inefficient units withsupercritical units, the report stated.
In order to assess the quantum of proposed replacement of old, inefficient & subcritical units by supercritical units/retirement /renovation, units having life span of 25 years or more have been considered, it stated.
The design life of 25 years is generally considered for coal fired units but this does not imply that units should not be operated beyond 25 years. Even some of the old plants are performing well, it stated.
As per data available with CEA, as on March 31, 2015 around 32830 MW capacity in State / Central sector and 1450 MW in Private sector is more than 25 years old.
At present 27 units with gross capacity of 2658 MW in the country have been shut for more than three years and are contributing to the ineffective capacity. Out of this, four units that have a capacity of 604 MW, are under renovation.
To ascertain the status of the old plants, three meetings were taken by Chairperson CEA/ Member (Thermal) CEA with the concerned State Utilities on August 18, September 16 and September 23, 2015 , wherein each and every project was discussed threadbare,the report stated.
Chhattisgarh achieved actual cumulative power generation of 40,173.66 million units (MU) from conventional power stations based in the State of above 25 MW capacity between April-September, 2015, according to the monthly report of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA).
This was compared to 38773.39 MU generated during the corresponding period of the previous year—a growth of 3.61 per cent, it stated.
Chhattisgarh would have 26,012 million units of power available during 2015-16 against the anticipated requirement of 24,980 million units during 2015-16, according to the CEA report.
The State would have 1032 million units (MU) of surplus power generated during 2015-16 and the peak requirement is anticipated at 3,825 MW against the anticipated availability of 3,857 MW- a surplus of 32MW, it stated.
As per CEA's actual power supply position versus load Generation Balance Report ( lGBR) for the year 2014-15, the actual energy shortage in the western region during 2014-15 was higher than the forecast figure on account of higher energy requirement as compared to availability, the report pointed out.
All the States of western region experienced lower shortages during 2014-15. Chhattisgarh had energy shortage of 1.3 per cent against forecast surplus of 40.9 pc, due to lower energy availability than the forecast. Gujarat did not face any energy shortage against a forecast surplus of 4.1 pc. Madhya Pradesh faced actual energy shortage of 0.5 pc against a forecast surplus of 5.1 pc due to lower energy availability, it stated.
In the western region during 2014-15, the maximum energy shortage was in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra which was 1.3 per cent.