GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF POWER

LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 3582

ANSWERED ON:16.04.2010

UTILISATION OF POWER GENERATION CAPACITY

(a) the details of thermal power plants in the country along with their installed and actual power generation capacity, State/UT-wise;

(b) the details of thermal power plants shut down, State/UT-wise;

(c) whether several power projects in the country are generating power less than their installed capacity; (

d) if so, the average power generation capacity utilized in the country during each of the last three years and the current year;

(e) whether variations have been noticed in the capacity utilization of these power projects during the said period;

(f) if so, whether any time frame has been fixed by the Government for optimal utilization of capacity generation of these projects; and

(g) if so, the details thereof?

ANSWER

 MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF POWER (SHRI BHARATSINH SOLANKI)

(a): The State-wise / UT-wise details of electricity generated by the Thermal Power Stations of Power Utilities during 2009-10 along with their installed capacity and monitored capacity are given at Annex-I.

(b): The details of Thermal Power Stations / Units above 25 MW capacity under long outage (more than 1 year) are given at Annex-II.

(c) to (e): The performance of thermal power plants (generation, PLF etc.) is dependent on a number of factors such as vintage of the unit, capacity, outage of the unit for repair works due to breakdown and planned maintenance, availability of fuel (in required quantity & quality), maintenance procedures followed, etc. Therefore, the actual performance of some of the power plants, mostly in the state sector, is at variance with their normal working capacity. The list of Thermal Power Stations achieving Plant Load Factor (PLF) less than National average of 77.5% during the year 2009-10 is given at Annex-III. The average PLF of Coal and Lignite based Thermal Plants in the country during the year 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10 has been 78.60, 77.20 and 77.5%. As can be seen that Plant Load Factor has not registered much change during the last three years.

 (f) & (g): Based on the discussions held with Ministry of Power, various utilities, PFC and BHEL, CEA have prepared a `National Perspective Plan for R&M and Life Extension & Uprating (LE & U) of thermal power stations upto 2016-17` and also revised the guidelines on R&M. In the Perspective Plan, 53 units (7318 MW) for LE works and 76 units (18,965 MW) for R&M works have been identified in 11th Plan and for 12th Plan, 72 units (16,532 MW) for LE work and 23 units (4,971 MW) for R&M work.

The R&M programme is primarily aimed at generation sustenance while life extension programme focuses on plant operation beyond their original design life after carrying out specific life assessment studies of critical components.