Friday, October 17, 2008

Power and Emmission

Electricty generation accunts for 57 % emission in India. And we lose 32 % of our generation Transmission and Distribution -TandD( someone called it Theft and Dacoity) losses. Todays level translate energy worth dollar 1 billion into carbon worth dollar 0.3 billion.
So one more aspect has been added to reduction in TandD losses. Emission.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

PPPs face hard time in Maharashtra

Ever wondered whats ails Maharashtra's power sector ? Govt invites PPPs with great euphoria , signs MoUs with them and 3 years down the line they are left in lurch. Babudom makes sure that land acquisitions remain impossible and power purchase agreements are not finalised. In 2005 state aimed at 13000 MW private power. This is nowhere in sight now. Only Tata, JSW and Reliance remain in the field now .
Local administration has played spoilsport as usual. No wonder we have power cuts in mumbai too.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Power Trading - The Future

With deregulation and privatisation in the transmission sector, power trading , though in small quantity has begun. The next decade will see its growth and resultant chaos. Why? 'coz we have experienced as in US and Europe, that connecting many weak grids together with large varying loads causes blackouts.
Why at all we go for power trading- well, thats something we cant do without. We need power, and it gets generated at many places. We connect all of them through regional grids. Now some of these grids are strong, but most are weak.
Lack of reserve capacity in any of the grid will collapse the whole system.
Solution:- Go for UHV ( 1000 KV) or DC ( 800 KV) use FACTS ( Flexible AC transmission. )
Thousand KV line can transmit 10 GW power. Its really huge.
Load Flow, Power Oscillations and Voltage quality, these are the main concerns। If we want to integrate large Wind Farm with the grid, HVDC is best and sometimes the only solution .
Present challenges:-
1. To double the Inter-Regional Transmission capacity i.e. from 17000 MW to about 35000 MW.
2. To Integrate the regions:- Southern region is still not integrated.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Share in Generation

Ever wondered who generates how much in India? Here are the fugures:-

States :- 56 % ( 72,000 MW)

Centre:- 33% ( 43,000 MW)

Private:- 11% ( about 13,000 MW).

Note that Power is a subject of both state and centre lists like education.

And do you have any idea how much is India's demand? Its 5,75,000 Million Units

As far as mode of generation is concerned, Coal is still the leader in Thermal ( 66% of all):-
Coal :- 55% ( 70,000 MW)
Gas :- 10 % (13,000 MW)
Oil:- 1% (1,000 MW)

Hydro power contributes 26% ( 34,000 MW)
Nuclear is a big let down withjust 3% ( 4000 MW) contribution.
Renewables are picking up fast with 5 % ( 6500 MW) share.

History Of Electric Power

1749:- Benjamin Franklin produced electricity by friction.

1910:- Growth of Power Sector with the help of private licensee.

1947:- India had 1300 MW installed capacity.

1948:- SEBs were created.

1998:- Regulatory Commission formed.

2004:- Installed capacity reaches 1,14000 MW.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

IE Act Section 42

There are 185 Clauses in the Indian Electricity Act, Section .
Main faeture of the same is:-
"Open Access for Generation, Transmission and Distribution"
Any guess how much it costs per MW to generate and distribute power?
Here are the Figures:-
Rs. 5 Crore /MW for generation.
Rs. 4.5 Crore /MW for distribution.

What is the main feature of Gas Turbines?
Ans:- It Requires Spinning Reserve.

Friday, August 1, 2008

Feed In Tariff

In order to encourage more and more distributed generation, CERC should set in place Feed in Tariff regime. Some states have these features, but not in a uniform way. Various states have contempltated the structure of FiT , but unless CERC steps in, the incentive for renewable energy will remain a far cry.
The term was imported from Germany and means the obligation for utlities to purchase at a set price the power from renewable energy producers.