Performance Review of Thermal Power Stations 2008-09

SCOPE OF REVIEW
The review for the year 2008-09 covers the performance of 390 coal / lignite based thermal units (above 25 MW capacity) aggregating 74914.5MW.

OVERALL PERFORMANCE
PLANT LOAD FACTOR Plant Load Factor (PLF) of 77.22% at National Level was achieved during the year. Highest ever PLF of 91.04% was achieved by the thermal units under Private Sector. Among all the sectors (Central, State and Private) PLF of 91.04% achieved by Private Sector stations was highest at the National level. 500 MW capacity group achieved the highest PLF of 85.33% among different capacity groups. BHEL/BHEL make units (258 units aggregating to 57852 MW) registered the highest PLF of 80.03% among units of different make. Station-wise PLF:

Dahanu Thermal Power Station (500 MW) of M/s Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. in Maharashtra achieved the highest ever PLF of 100.99 %. PLF of following two thermal power stations viz. Dahanu TPS (2x250 MW) of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. and Budge Budge TPS (2x250 MW) of CESC Ltd. were above 100%.
Station Name

Capacity

Organisation

PLF %

DAHANU TPS

500

Reliance Infrastructure LTD.

100.99

BUDGE BUDGE TPS

500

CESC Ltd.

100.53

PLF of 8 Thermal Power Stations was above 95% while PLF of 18 thermal power stations was above 90%. PLF of Dadri NCTPP (4x210 MW) was maximum (99.36 %) among all central sector Stations.
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Performance Review of Thermal Power Stations 2008-09

PLF of GHTPS at Lehra Mohabbat (2x210 MW) was maximum (95.99%) among all State Sector Stations. Unit-wise PLF:

13 Thermal Units achieved PLF greater than 100%. Among these 10 were from Central Sector Utility (NTPC), two were from Pvt. Utilities (Reliance and CESC) and one from State Sector Utilities (RRVUNL) as per details given below:

Station Name
KORBA STPS

Unit No.
3

Capacity (MW)
200

Organisation % PLF

KORBA STPS

200

SINGRAULI STPS

200

DAHANU TPS

250

BUDGE BUDGE TPS

250

DADRI (NCTPP)

210

DADRI (NCTPP)

210

UNCHAHAR TPS

210

SIMHADRI

500

SINGRAULI STPS

200

KOTA TPS

195

RAMAGUNDEM STPS

500

RIHAND STPS

500

NTPC NTPC NTPC Reliance CESC NTPC NTPC NTPC NTPC NTPC RRVUNL NTPC NTPC

105.70

104.70

103.60

103.60

102.60

102.50

102.00

101.90

101.60

101.50

101.10

100.50

100.40

Total

13

3625

41 thermal units achieved PLF above 95% while PLF of 98 units were more than 90%. Korba STPS Unit #3 (200 MW) of NTPC Ltd. in Chattisgarh achieved the highest PLF of 105.70 %. This was also the highest ever PLF achieved by any unit so far. PLF of 103.60 % of Unit #2 of Dahanu TPS (250 MW) of Relience Infrastructure Ltd. in Gujrat was the highest among all Private Sector units. PLF of 101.10 % of Unit #6 of Kota TPS (195 MW) of RRVUNL was the highest among all State Sector units.

PLANNED MAINTENANCE Energy loss on account of planned maintenance reduced to 5.66 % from 7.54 % during 2007-08. The average duration of boiler overhaul and capital maintenance was achieved as 24 days and 53 days respectively. Average duration of boiler overhaul in private sector was lowest (18 days). No private sector unit was taken for capital overhaul.
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Performance Review of Thermal Power Stations 2008-09

FORCED OUTAGES Energy loss on account of forced outages increased to 9.29 % from 7.71% during 2007-08. Energy loss on account of forced outages due to Reserve Shutdown of units reduced from 0.29% to 0.22 % of the maximum possible generation. Main cause of forced outage was due to various boiler problems. Out of the total number of forced outages of 7647, outages on account of boiler problems were 3436. Maximum number of outages (2058 out of total No 7647) were the outages of duration lasting up to 3 hours. Maximum loss of generation (21705 MUs) was due to long duration forced outages (over 25 days).

OPERATING AVAILABILITY An all time high overall Operating Availability of 85.05% was achieved as against 84.76% achieved during 2007-08. The overall Operating Availability of Generating Stations under Private Sector Utilities was 92.73% which was the highest among different Sectors. 500 MW group had the highest Operating Availability of 89.91% followed by 201-220 MW (88.65%) & 195/200 MW group (88.65%). The Operating Availability of BHEL/BHEL make units was 86.86% which was highest among the units of different make. The highest Operating Availability of 91.09% was achieved during the month of MARCH, 2009. SECTORWISE OPERATING AVAILABILITY
SECTOR

OPERATING AVAILABILITY (%)

CENTRAL

87.59

STATE

82.67

PRIVATE

92.73

MAKEWISE OPERATING AVAILABILITY (%)

MAKE

OPERATING AVAILABILITY (%)

BHEL/BHEL

86.86

BHEL/ ABL

75.61

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Performance Review of Thermal Power Stations 2008-09

MAKE

OPERATING AVAILABILITY (%)

CHINA/ CHINA

74.29

RUSSIA/RUSSIA

82.44

OTHERS

79.19

EFFECT OF OUTAGES ON GENERATION RELIABILITY WITH REFERENCE TO THE GENERATION PROGRAM : Mean Time between Failures (MTBF) of the units reviewed during the last two years was as under:
MTBF Range (Days)

Mean Time between Failures (MTBF)

07-08 08-09

Above 30 25 30 20 25 15 20 10 15 5 10 15 Upto 1 Total

Absolute 135 31 35 40 53 34 27 30

%
35.06 8.05 9.09 10.39 13.77 8.83 7.01 7.79

Absolute 134 43 39 27 50 61 21 15

%
34.36 11.03 10.00 6.92 12.82 15.64 5.38 3.85

385

100.00

390

100.00

This indicates that mean time between failures (MTBF) of 45.39% of the total no. of thermal units was more than 25 days and all such units may be considered as most reliable units. Similarly, 9.23% of the thermal units with MTBF less than 5 days could be considered as unreliable units. Following 17 coal/lignite based thermal units (NTPC-11, APGENCO= 2 and one each of Neyveli Lignite Corporation, CESC, Tata Power & Reliance Infrastructure Ltd.) operated continuously for more than 200 days till end of 31st March 2009.
Station Name

Unit No.

Capacity (MW)

Period of continuous operation of the unit To date From date

Duration in days

Singrauli STPS

200

13-Sep-07

24-Jun-08

285

Korba STPS

500

24-Oct-07

30-Jul-08

280

Korba STPS

200

19-Oct-07

21-Jul-08

276

Raichur TPS

210

21-Oct-07

14-Jul-08

267

Dahanu TPS

250

25-Oct-07

Korba STPS

200

3-Aug-08

Budge Budge TPS

250

7-Nov-07

8-Jul-08 31-Mar-09 and Continued 3-Jul-08

257

240

239

Singrauli STPS

200

14-Nov-07

Talcher STPS

500

14-Aug-08

5-Jul-08 31-Mar-09 and Continued

234

229

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Performance Review of Thermal Power Stations 2008-09

Station Name

Unit No.

Capacity (MW)

Trombay TPS

500

Korba STPS

200

Period of continuous operation of the unit To date From date 31-Mar-09 and 17-Aug-08 Continued 7-Jul-08 16-Feb-09

Duration in days

226

224

Trombay TPS

500

12-Jun-08

13-Jan-09

215

Ramagundem STPS

200

31-Oct-07

30-May-08

212

Talcher (old) TPS

62.5

19-Jun-08

15-Jan-09

210

Neyveli ( EXT) TPS

210

4-Nov-07

26-May-08

204

Rihand STPS

500

7-May-08

Singrauli STPS

200

11-Sep-08

25-Nov-08 31-Mar-09 and Continued

202

201

OPERATIONAL INPUTS 84 (80 coal based & 4 lignite based) Thermal Power Stations provided information regarding coal/ lignite supplies. Total generation loss of 10.9 BU was reported due to shortage of coal/ lignite. There had been shortfall in the gas supplies during financial year 2008-09. Loss of generation due to shortage of gas based on possible operation of power plants at 90% PLF was 33.71 BU. However the loss of generation, as reported to CEA was 11.99 BU only. . All India specific coal consumption increased to 0.743 kg/kWh from 0.731 kg/kWh in 2007-08. Specific Coal Consumption was lowest in Southern Region (0.706 kg/kWh) and highest in Western Region (0.773 kg/kWh) All India weighted average specific fuel oil consumption (SFOC) in the power stations was worked out as 1.93 ml/kWh.

AUXILIARY POWER CONSUMPTION Auxiliary power consumption at national level marginally increased to 8.32% as compared to 8.17% during 2007-08 mainly due to higher auxiliary consumptions by some non-stabilised units. Trombay Station of Tata Power Co. Ltd achieved the lowest auxiliary power consumption (4.39%) in the country. Among Central Sector Stations, Sipat STPS of NTPC achieved the lowest auxiliary power consumption (5.04%). Among State Sector Stations, Wanakbori TPS of GSECL achieved the lowest auxiliary power consumption (7.05%).
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Performance Review of Thermal Power Stations 2008-09

Among different capacity groups, the lowest auxiliary power consumption was 6.18% in 500 MW group. BHEL/BHEL units had the lowest auxiliary power consumption (8.14%) followed by RUSSIA/ RUSSIA (8.16 %).

STATON OPERATION UNDER DISTURBED GRID/FREQUENCY CONDITIONS

There were no grid disturbances during the year in Northern Region. However, there were minor grid disturbances in the Eastern, Western, Southern and North-Eastern Regions during the year 2008-09. Frequency profile of different Region was as under:
Percentage of time of operation of two different power systems

Max.

Region

Below 49.0

Between 49.0 - 50.5

Above

Frequency

Min. Frequency

50.5

(Hz)

(Hz)

(Hz)

(Hz)

(Hz)

Eastern, Northern , Western, and NorthEastern

6.97

92.92

0.12

50.76

48.44

Southern

9.34

90.58

0.08

50.96

48.25

STATION HEAT RATE OF COAL/ LIGNITE BASED THERMAL POWER STATIONS

There was an overall improvement of 3.17 % in operating Station Heat Rate (SHR) during the year 2008-09 over the preceding year as indicated below:
Year No. of Stations analyzed Capacity ( MW) Weighted Average Design SHR (kcal/kWh) Weighted average Operating SHR (kcal/kWh) % Operating SHR Deviation with respect to Design SHR % improvement () / deterioration (+) in Operating Station Heat Rate over preceding year (-)5.49 (-)3.17

2007-08 2008-09

53 67

37830 56075

2376.8 2347.9

2703.91 2618.2

13.76 11.51

RENOVATION & MODERNISATION OF THERMAL POWER STATIONS

Renovation and Modernisation (R&M) and Life Extension (LE) of an existing power station provide additional generation at low cost with short gestation period. It also results in improvement of environmental emissions and improvement in availability, safety and reliability. The Partnership in Excellence (PIE) program was launched by Ministry of Power in August, 2005 to improve performance of such stations which were
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Performance Review of Thermal Power Stations 2008-09

running at PLF much below 60%. The PIE program had been concluded in all identified thermal power stations by June 2008. There has been improvement in most of the Thermal Power Stations with significant improvement in the following:
Sl. No. Name of the plant / utility Capacity under Program PIE PLF before PIE Program (AprSep 2005) PLF after PIE Program (2007-08) 70.9 %

Bokaro 'B / DVC

630 MW

45.5 %

Chandrapura / DVC

390 MW

58.8 %

69.4 %

Rajghat / IPGCL

135 MW

42.5 %

75.5 %

Ennore / TNEB

280 MW

22.0 %

59.3 %

Dhuvaran / GSECL

280 MW

27.0 %

71.0 %

Kutch lignite / GSECL

215 MW

28.3 %

72.9 %

During the 11th Plan 53 numbers (7318 MW) out of which 33 numbers (4524 MW) in state sector and 20 numbers (2794 MW) in central sector have been identified for taking up for life extension program. 76 units (18965 MW) out of which 27 units (6015 MW) in state sector and 49 units (12950 MW) in central sector have been identified for implementation of R&M works during the 11th Plan period.