Explore Business Standard
Coal Power Project
The government has decided to start work to have up to 60 GW of coal-based generation capacity in addition to the 27 GW already under construction, amid rising demand for electricity, according Union Power Minister R K Singh. Singh held an interaction with stakeholders in the power sector here on Tuesday to review the thermal power capacity addition and facilitate the industry to overcome any problems. "We have 27 GW under construction, and we had thought that we will add another 25 GW. But we have decided that we will start work on at least 55-60 GW of thermal capacity. As demand keeps accelerating, we will keep adding this capacity," Singh said at the meeting. According to the projections of National Electricity Plan for 2022-32, the required coal- and lignite-based installed capacity will be 283 GW by 2031-2032 as against the present installed capacity of 214 GW, the power ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. The minister shared the government's decision to add about 80 GW
Coal-based thermal power units' plant load factor (PLF) or capacity utilisation will improve to 65 per cent in the current fiscal year despite record renewable energy capacity addition, according to Crisil Ratings. "Healthy PLFs along with lower receivables and encouraging fuel supply will support the credit profiles of private coal-based generating companies (gencos)," Crisil Ratings said in a statement. The PLFs of coal-based power plants in India will improve to 65 per cent this fiscal despite record renewable energy (RE) capacity addition, it added. Over the past two fiscals, electricity demand witnessed a robust 8-9 per cent annual growth, driven by the post-pandemic economic rebound, the agency noted. During this period, 34 gigawatts (GW) of capacity has been added, with 90 per cent of it in RE, the statement said. In GW terms, this is a 9 per cent growth in power capacities, but on normative terms this was only 4-5 per cent growth as capacities operate at varying PLFs, and
NLC India on Thursday said it has completed Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) for its upcoming 2,400 MW Talabira Supercritical Thermal Power Plant (STPP) in Sambalpur district of Odisha. Power transmission company GRIDCO Ltd on Thursday signed the PPA to source 800 MW of electricity from the 3x800 MW coal-fired plant being set up at an investment of about Rs 19,422 crore, NLC India said in a statement. "NLC India Ltd (NLCIL) and GRIDCO Ltd signed a PPA today (Thursday) in GRIDCO Ltd in Bhubaneswar for 400 MW for stage-1 and 400 MW for stage-2. With this agreement, NLCIL has achieved full capacity of 2,400 MW of its Talabira Super Thermal Power Station Stage-I," it said. The agreement was signed between M Prasanna Kumar, Chairman & Managing Director (CMD), NLC India Ltd, and Trilochan Panda, Managing Director, in presence of other senior company officials. NLC India has already signed a similar agreement in the past with Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Pondicherry for 1,500 MW, 400 MW, and .
India's total plant load factor (PLF) or capacity utilisation of thermal plants is expected to rise to 65.1 per cent this fiscal over 64.2 per cent in the preceding financial year (FY) 2022-23, according to Icra. In its latest report, Icra projected the all-India thermal PLF level to improve to 65.1 per cent in FY2024 led by the growth in electricity demand and limited thermal capacity addition. Its outlook for the thermal power segment is also stable, supported by the healthy improvement in the thermal PLF, coupled with the reduction in dues from state distribution utilities (discoms), following the implementation of the late payment surcharge (LPS) scheme, the ratings agency said on Wednesday. "The rating agency projects the full-year demand growth for FY2024 at a modest 5.0-5.5%, slightly lower than its expectation for the GDP growth for this fiscal (6 per cent), with unseasonal rains having dampened demand over the past two-and-a-half months," it said. However, the demand is ..