Summary
Availability of, and access to, electricity is a crucial element of modern economies and it helps pave the way for human development. Accordingly, the power sector has been given a high priority in the national planning processes in India and a concerted focus on enhancing this sector has resulted in significant gains in generation and availability of electricity in the years since independence.
Coal-based power has driven much of the growth in India’s power sector over the past three decades. By 2004-05, coal and lignite accounted for about 57% of installed capacity (68 GW out of 118 GW) and 71% of generated electricity (424 TWh out of 594 TWh) in the country; currently, the power sector consumes about 80% of the coal produced in the country. As the demand for electricity is expect to rise dramatically over the next decade, coal will continue to be the dominant energy source. The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has estimated that meeting electricity demand over the next ten years will require more than doubling the existing capacity, from about 132 GW in 2007 to about 280 GW by 2017, of which at least 80 GW of new capacity
is expected to be based on coal.
Sub-critical pulverized coal (PC) combustion power plants manufactured by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) – based on technologies licensed from various international manufacturers – have been the backbone of India’s coal-power sector. Although the unit size and efficiency of these BHEL-manufactured power plants have steadily increased, the basic technology has not changed much. Internationally, however, there is now a range of advanced, more efficient, and cleaner technologies for producing electricity using coal. Combustion based on supercritical steam, offering higher efficiencies than sub-critical PC, is a commercial technology. Ultra-supercritical PC, which offers even higher efficiency, is also being deployed, while oxy-fuel combustion for facilitating capture of carbon-dioxide (CO2) is under development. Integrated gasification with combined-cycle operation (IGCC), with significant potential for high efficiency and for cost-effective reduction of CO2 and other emissions, is likely to be commercially available in the near future.
clean coal |
