Technology edge for power plant performance

Experts from power plant sector discuss the advantages, challenges and opportunities to enhance the power plant’s efficiency. 

Globally, India is the sixth largest economy, the third-largest electricity producer, has the second largest population, and the fourth largest installed power capacity (third largest including genset capacity). Finding the right energy mix will require leveraging the country’s existing power plants, removing inadequacies, adding newer technologies, and using flexible power to increase system efficiencies. In these efforts, gas-based power plants have a critical role to play and could be a significant part of the country’s energy mix.

Driving factors of power plants performance 

According to Ajay Shankar, Distinguished Fellow, TERI, “Today, there is a very large capacity of supercritical power plants which have been commissioned to large extent by private investment and they are unable to run at full capacity, as many of them are struggling to get coal. On the other hand, we have these old inefficient plants, which are continuing to run.” So, if one were to convert the whole power sector of India into one centrally integrated plant kind of undertaking, then clearly all the old inefficient plants won’t run and the new ones will. 

According to Harry Dhaul, Director General, Independent Power Producers Association of India (IPPAI), there are some basic expectation peculiar to India. We have almost 8000 MW of gas pants but there is no gas to go commence activities. So, 1st major factor is – 

1. 1. Fuel Availability: Having sufficient fuel availability is vital for efficient functioning of power plants. This is a challenge in many ways. So, unavailability of insufficient fuel can create huge stress points. Here, we have boilers designed and sized in a specific pattern, but it doesn’t fit to it when the fuel received varies with what was expected.
   2. Transmission: Of course, to a large extent transmission issues seem to have been resolved. But there are many plants which have to back down due to transmission constraints. For example, Karnataka has 4000 megawatts of solar power and when the solar power comes on, it is a must run option. Being a must run option, means the thermal power plants have to back down. Now, that doesn’t really amount to efficiency, as it increases your fuel consumption even more.
   3. Efforts for Efficiency: We need to bring in more efforts towards energy conservation and energy efficiency in our power plants. Although they claim to have high efficiency, in reality we must have increased energy conservation to attain highest efficiency. 

Few years back, IPPAI had mooted a proposal to make energy efficiency and incentivise in the form of Assessment of energy Saving Oil Pipelines (AESOP), which was accepted by Bureau of Energy Efficiency. We do have a market available for that but we are not there. There needs to be recalibration on policy and regulation on the interaction or if you can call it the clash of civilizations, if you like, between renewable and conventional power plants.

Kashish Shah, Energy Finance Analyst, IEEFA, shares a transition perspective. He says, “I would emphasize on having flexible operations of not just gas-fired power plants, but also coal-fired power plants. Further, we should also look at other technologies which could provide flexible powers such as battery storage and green hydrogen. To be more specific, we need to lay out few policy frameworks to unlock investment opportunities in these technologies.”

Technologies and solutions to mitigate pollutions in thermal power plants 

Akilur Rahman, Chief Technology Officer, Hitachi ABB Power Grids, India prefers to discuss about the technologies that exists to reduce the pollution inside the plants but also there can be a step change in the technology to move towards cleaner energy. We are now talking about the carbon neutral future including the penetration of renewable energy, hydrogen power and energy storage options. Also, there is a visible increase in the use of electric vehicles. “I think these technologies together will definitely lead to a cleaner energy not only in the generation, but also from transmission and consumption point of view. These technologies can definitely lead to a carbon neutral future.” Many of the countries, the utilities and the industries they have announced that they would like to move into the EV direction. But it is not just replacing these different conventional fossil-based generation into the new clean energy, but it is also how we will progress to coexist with different technologies and diverse sources of energy. 

“I think technology can play a big role and it has been used in the power sector since its inception. But here technology is not only the core technology, but also the automation and digitalization together. We have to bring all these different elements together, and also the different stakeholders, from generation to transmission redistribution to consumers and prosumers we are talking about today. I think with this technology platform, we need to work together as a collaborative way of addressing this cleaner energy and also producing green, transmitting green and consuming green” Akilur adds.

According to Rajiv B Samant, Head – Wind O&M, Tata Power Company Limited, “This decade will belong to renewables as they are creating huge changes and differences to the way a lot of changes in putting power to the grid with renewables, with almost one lakh gigawatt of wind and solar into the grid. I hope this power will be assimilated by the sector and we will be able to become green power in India soon.”

We need to admit that with the combination of solar plus wind, we are reducing our dependence on importing oil, and reduce environmental hazards by reducing coal burning. Although the government of India have been initiating several efforts to promote green power, there do exist various challenges towards green power.

Recently, the Supreme Court gave a ruling to all the 33 kV line network and 220 kV lines in Rajasthan and Gujarat to be laid underground, which is going to be a huge challenge for us. We need to find a way out to deal with this and I guess the government also need to look into the matter and make some suggestions, otherwise all these power plants which have been set up renewable for plants will become like dust, gas plants, which will further make it miserable for the investors to sustain in such situation. 

“The one positive aspect about solar and wind energy is, it is really getting well with the cola, gas and thermal plants. So, going forward, I think getting well with the coal and gas and all, hybrid projects are coming where we can have round the clock power, all the challenges which the other sector is having, may be either the thermal or Hydro sector is facing,” explains Rajiv. 

Wind and solar are able to meet the challenges, we are able to do forecasting scheduling for power, we are able to manage the grid also and give a very steady output which are required by the grid. Finally, the consumer is the King. And you saw the bidding which is happening for both wind and solar both are in the range of two to three rupees. And if this power is going to become so inexpensive, it is going to replace both the coal, thermal power and the gas we need now as the support of the consumers in doing this, the protect technology should be there. 

Every sector should support the renewable energy because going either for board is going to become zero, then we need to support wind solar hybrid as well as storage battery and all other sources like hydro also.

Complying with emission norms at coal-fired power plants 

The Ministry of Environment and Forests had put in place fairly stringent and forward-looking norms. These norms were supposed to be mandatory, but for a variety of reasons the forward movement on that has been slow. And the deadlines given by the Ministry of Environment, forests and climate change have been pushed forward by a couple of years at a time, and they’ve again recently been pushed forward. 

So, the environmental norms in reality have taken a backseat to the incentives within the power sector for making the plants continue to run and without the investments needed to conform with the environmental law. So that’s the present situation and the current reality.

Adding more to the discussion, Harry mentions the other challenge regarding the competitive bidding where you have already offered a price, and now the court ruling emphasises on having Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FDG) installed in thermal power plants. For example, investments for a 1200 MW plant goes up to ₹900 Cr to ₹ 1000 Cr. So, it was a challenge for the bankers to even look at the environmental aspect of it. Hence, I think it is rightly said that owing to multiple reasons, even the environment is taking a backseat, but the government is proactively looking for ways to address it. 

Suggestions on draft NEP

The key driver has to be on how we make the transition to a fossil fuel free electricity system. Now the roadmap for achieving that is concurrently progressing in every major economy. It’s not that the road map laid is unclear, its more about thinking along on those directions to find possible solutions as a country. 

“For the new electricity policy, my suggestion would be that it should articulate the goal of moving to a real exchange system, which is free of fossil fuels and along with an examination of the pathways to achieving that goal. The government of India has already announced of 450 GW of renewable energy which is slated to come to reality by 2030, or it may take some more years but it will definitely be a reality”, Ajay shares.

He further explains that, it’s important on how do we look forward to making the grid and further transition to a 100 percent fossil fuel energy system and move towards creating a net-zero carbon economy. 

The way forward

There are many power plants, which have come up on a cost-plus basis under Section 62 but are not yet being scheduled. So, maybe the state governments or the environmental fund agencies can look upon funding these new plants, which are efficient to run and basically supply power instead of running the old plants. This is also jumping from the old ones to the new ones, and utilising the installed capacity, which is otherwise being wasted because the state governments have to pay the fixed charges without actually having the advantage of the power. 

“Instead of setting up new power plants, which are going to cost immensely, the better option is shutting down the old inefficient power plants and replacing that capacity loss with new power plants. Diverting the coal to the new plants which are efficient will give power at a much cheaper price, says Harry.

Adding more to the future prospects for power plants in India, Akilur is positive on having several micro grids connected to the main grid. Another thing is vehicle charging infrastructure with ultrafast charging, which is going to draw huge amount of power instantly from the grid. “To have this kind of diversity in the generation and also the load, we need to have very strict and better control of the grid which we can achieve through power electronics. It is not simply replacing the fossil fuel with renewable power but it is also ensuring that the grid is stable. We need to have better control and go in a very balanced sustainable way, with the help of automation and control technologies,” Akilur adds.

“Last but not the least, the technology solution for India to look forward to, is green hydrogen. As a fuel, green hydrogen has been above all these fuel for the last couple of decades. Given its wide range of application in transportation, industry production of ammonia, methanol and also potential use in energy storage, this is a key fuel or a technology solution that India must look into” Kashish conclude.

Quotes:

Kashish Shah, Energy Finance Analyst, IEEFA

We need to bring in policies and frameworks to unlock investment opportunities in newer technologies for plant efficiency.

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Akilr Rahman, Chief Technology Officer, Hitachi ABB Power Grids, India

We must analyse ways to progress efficiently to coexist with different technologies and diverse sources of energy.

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Rajiv B Samant, Head – Wind O&M, Tata Power Company Limited 

I think, combination of solar and wind, storage is going to be the future trend in the power sector, at plant and storage level.

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Harry Dhaul, Director General, IPPAI

Diverting the coal to the new and efficient power plant will further give power at cheap and affordable prices to the users. 

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Ajay Shankar, Distinguished Fellow, TERI

We need a serious discussion about not starting more new coal-fired stations and move towards net-zero system.