According to an OECD study, approximately 50% of India’s total GHG emissions are produced by its power sector.

 

 

 

 

It is well accepted that power generation is the primary contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in India. According to an OECD study, approximately 50% of India’s total GHG emissions are produced by its power sector. It is also important to recognise that the power system in India still relies heavily on fossil fuels. Whilst policies to promote electricity generation from non-conventional energy sources are being put in place. a significant shift towards low-carbon energy sources may not take place in the near future. Currently 69% of the gross generation of electricity is coal based and only 1.2% is based on renewable energy sources.

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. Moreover, the maximum contribution of renewable energy would be around 5.6% of our total energy by 2031-32.

This however, does not mean that in meeting our electricity needs we have to be environmentally insensitive. A viable and sustainable solution lies in encouraging generation from ‘clean’ coal. In a discussion paper of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Ananth Chikkatur and Ambuj Sagar argue that even though a large part of the power generation will be coal dependent, it is important that India moves away from sub-critical pulverised coal or ‘dirty’ coal. There are no clear technology choices but their analysis suggests that commercial supercritical combustion technology is the best option for India in the short-to-medium term.

What are the advantages of this technology? The supercritical coal based units have faster starting time and load changes and are more suitable for daily start up/shut down operation and have better efficiency at part load operation. Inducting more efficient higher-size coal fired units rapidly is the most viable strategy to achieve the required capacity addition as per the committee to recommend next higher unit size of coal fired thermal power stations, set up by the CEA. The committee recommended (a) setting up of higher unit size plants of 800-1000 MW due to their low installation cost and better efficiency; (b) adoption of supercritical steam parameters of 246-250kg/cm2 and higher steam temperatures of 568oC to 593oC, depending upon site-specific techno-economics.

The Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPPs) being developed with private sector participation and based on tariff based competitive bidding will use supercritical technology in order to achieve higher fuel efficiency which would result in saving of fuel and lowering of GHG emissions. These are the so called ‘clean coal’ based power generation projects of 4,000 MW each.

Some stations with 660 MW unit size in Sipat, Vijaywada, North Karanpura and Barh are contemplated with supercritical parameters, but only the one at Sipat is under construction. NTPC hopes that during the present Eleventh Plan period (2007-12), an aggregate capacity of 6,600 MW based on supercritical technology is to be commissioned, which will lead to a reduction of 0.8 million tonnes of CO2 per annum.

According to the CEA, over 60% of new capacity in the Twelfth Plan period and 90% in the Thirteenth Plan will be based on supercritical technology, up from under 20% of thermal capacity coming up during the current Plan period. The shift to supercritical technology will also feature among the key mitigation actions of the government as part of its climate change agenda. While the adoption of supercritical technology in the coal power plants are a part of the proclaimed government agenda, the poor achievements of the same in the Tenth Five Year Plan mean that a lot has to be done in order to make them a reality. In order to achieve the benefits of higher efficiency of supercritical units, the operating practices and skills of utilities have to be considerably improved. NTPC is using supercritical technology and APGENCO has also planned to install large-size units with supercritical technology, but the other state utilities have not shown any urgency.

Similarly, the UMPPs are also expected to result in lower emission levels and thereby reduce the environmental risks from these projects. Although nine such projects have been identified by the CEA, of which five are in the coastal sites and four are at pithead sites, only for four plants the bids have been finalised. Given the recent slowdown it may be difficult to get equity financing for this clean technology, however, the government should be vigilant that this slowdown does not result in slipping back to ‘dirty’ coal and all efforts should be made to finalise the bids of the other projects and bring them to financial closure. No longer can India show brinkmanship when it comes to its climate change mitigation responsibilities. The attitude of the government and a large part of the civil society in this regard is that it is their, i.e. the developed world’s problem, not ours.

This attitude has led to a slow adoption of this technology in the power sector with no firm strategy to promote R&D in clean coal technologies. The coal sector itself will require a major shape up to meet these challenges. These actions alone will ensure that India is a responsible global actor in the climate change agenda and not a mere fence-sitter.

—The author is an associate professor at Delhi University and advisor at Indicus Analytics, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  

---

---