Wednesday 23 April 2014

PROBLEMS WITH INDIAN POWER SECTOR

  • Government giveaways such as free electricity for farmers, partly to curry political favour, have depleted the cash reserves of state-run electricity-distribution system. This has financially crippled the distribution network, and its ability to pay for power to meet the demand.                                                                                                                                                                                      
  • Shortages of fuel: despite abundant reserves of coal, India is facing a severe shortage of coal. The country isn't producing enough to feed its power plants. Some plants do not have reserve coal supplies to last a day of operations.India's monopoly coal producer, state-controlled Coal India, is constrained by primitive mining techniques and is rife with theft and corruption; Coal India has consistently missed production targets and growth targets. Poor coal transport infrastructure has worsened these problems. To expand its coal production capacity, Coal India needs to mine new deposits. However, most of India's coal lies under protected forests or designated tribal lands. Any mining activity or land acquisition for infrastructure in these coal-rich areas of India, has been rife with political demonstrations, social activism and public interest litigations.                                                                                                           
  • The giant new offshore natural gas field has delivered less fuel than projected. India faces a shortage of natural gas.                                                                                                                        
  • Hydroelectric power projects in India's mountainous north and north east regions have been slowed down by ecological, environmental and rehabilitation controversies, coupled with public interest litigations.                                                                                                                                              
  • India's nuclear power generation potential has been stymied by political activism since the Fukushima disaster in Japan.                                                                                                                 
  • Average transmission, distribution and consumer-level losses exceeding 30% which includes auxiliary power consumption of thermal power stations, fictitious electricity generation by wind generators & independent power producers (IPPs), etc.                                                                           
  • Over 30 crore (300 million) people in India have no access to electricity. Of those who do, almost all find electricity supply intermittent and unreliable.                                                                                    
  • Lack of clean and reliable energy sources such as electricity is, in part, causing about 80 crore (800 million) people in India to continue using traditional biomass energy sources – namely fuel wood, agricultural waste and livestock dung – for cooking and other domestic needs. Traditional fuel combustion is the primary source of indoor air pollution in India, causes between 300,000 to 400,000 deaths per year and other chronic health issues.                                                                      
  • India’s coal-fired, oil-fired and natural gas-fired thermal power plants are inefficient and offer significant potential for greenhouse gas (CO2) emission reduction through better technology. Compared to the average emissions from coal-fired, oil-fired and natural gas-fired thermal power plants in European Union (EU-27) countries, India’s thermal power plants emit 50% to 120% more CO2 per kWh produced.






HISTORY OF POWER SECTOR IN INDIA

  • The power sector in India has undergone significant progress after Independence.                                                                                   
  •  When India became independent in 1947, the country had a power generating capacity of 1,362 MW.                                                        
  •  Hydro power and coal based thermal power have been the main sources of generating electricity.                                                                     
  •  Generation and distribution of electrical power was carried out primarily by private utility companies.Notable amongst them and still in existence is Calcutta Electric.
  •  Power was available only in a few urban centers; rural areas and villages did not have electricity.                                                                      
  • After 1947, all new power generation, transmission and distribution in the rural sector and the urban centers (which was not served by private utilities) came under the purview of State and Central government agencies.State Electricity Boards (SEBs) were formed in all the states.      
  •  In spite of the overall development that has taken place, the power supply industry has been under constant pressure to bridge the gap between supply and demand.



Monday 21 April 2014

POWER SECTOR IN INDIA



  • The electricity sector in India had an installed capacity of 237.742 GW as of February 2014, the world's fourth largest.



  • Captive power plants(it is associated with specific industrial complexes, and their output is almost entirely consumed by that industrial plant) generate an additional 39.375 GW.



  •  Non Renewable Power Plants constitute 87.55% of the installed capacity, and Renewable Power Plants constitute the remaining 12.45% of total installed Capacity


Wednesday 9 April 2014

MEANING OF POWER