Maintenance of ecological balance and a pristine environment has been of utmost importance to all Indian Thermal power plants. Environment protection continues to be a key area of concern, along with growth in generation of power. Driven by its commitment for sustainable growth of power, NTPC has evolved a well-defined environment management policy that focuseson minimizing the environmental impact arising from the setting up of power plants and preserving the natural ecology. Environment-friendly approach to power has already begun to show results in conservation of natural resources such as water and fuel (coal, oil and gas) as well as control of environmental pollution. The spirit behind this manual is to act as a catalyst to initiate the activities in Indian Power generating units towards continuously improving the performance of individual units and achieving world class standards.
This
manual has been divided into five chapters, detailing the history of the Indian
power sector, best performance parameters of Indian power plants, best practices
in Indian power plants, performance improvement—heat rate and auxiliary power
consumption, performance improvement—reliability and availability, operation
and maintenance, environment improvement and the action plan to improve the best
practices in power sector.
The
power sector is one of the fastest growing sectors in India, which essentially
supports the economic growth. The power sector needs to grow at the rate of 12%
to maintain the present GDP growth of 8%. Presently, the energy deficit is about
8.3% and the power shortage during the peak period is about 12.5%. Thermal power
generating units contribute 66.4% of the total installed capacity of 1,24,310
MW. The overall plant load factor of the thermal power generating units is about
12.5%; to meet the demand and supply gap, apart from augmenting the capacity,
there is an immense need to improve the performance of the existing power generating
units. |
