As per the extant National Electricity Plan, the installed capacity of thermal power plants of the country, comprising of Coal based and Gas & diesel based plants, is likely to be 243,037 MW in 2021-22 out of a total projected Installed Capacity of 479,419 MW. The Plant Load Factor (PLF) of Coal based capacity in 2021-22 is likely to be 56.5%. The generators supplying power under Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) will not suffer financial loss due to underutilization of their power generation capacity as they are entitled to full recovery of fixed charges from the beneficiaries subject to achieving the normative availability.
Power Minister RK Singh said that the PLF of thermal, (coal based) stations depends on total electricity demand in the country which is affected by weather conditions, growth of electricity demand in various sectors and generation from various other sources like hydro, nuclear, gas etc. Besides “Must Run Status” has been accorded to Renewable Energy projects (Solar, wind & Small Hydro). Power from such sources get dispatched on priority and is generally fully utilized. The generation from the hydro power plants is commensurate with availability of water and is generally fully utilized. Thus, the utilization of coal based plants depends on balance generation required from thermal Stations and the position of the particular plant in the merit order, resulting in thermal Stations generally operating on low PLF. The PLF of gas based generation is low due to non-availability of gas in the country.
The Minister also informed the House that the government is exploring the possibility of use of cost effective energy storage system e.g. pumped storage hydro plant, Battery storage etc. so that the electricity generated during off peak period can be stored for use during peak period. This would lead to better utilisation of power generation capacity of thermal power plants.
