CONTENTS

1.

Introduction of NTPC

2. Introduction about Project

3. Principle of Steam Power Plant
4. Production of Electricity
5. Components of Coal Fired Thermal Power Station
6. Transformers
7. Switchyard
8. Coal Handling Plant
9. Conclusion

INTRODUCTION ABOUT NTPC

NTPC Limited (previously known as National Thermal Power Corporation

Limited) is an Indian Maharatna Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) under
the Ministry of Power, Government of India, engaged in the business of
generation of electricity and allied activities.

NTPC today has an installed capacity of 47,178 MW and plans to become a

1, 28,000 MW power company by 2032.

Installed Capacity

Present installed capacity of NTPC is 47,178 MW (including 6,966 MW

through JVs/Subsidiaries) comprising of 43 NTPC Stations (18 Coal based
stations, 7 combined cycle gas/liquid fuel based stations, 1 Hydro based
station), 9 Joint Venture stations (8 coal based and one gas based) and 9
renewable energy projects.

Sl.No.

NO. OF PLANTS

CAPACITY (MW)

Coal

18

35,085

Gas/Liquid Fuel

4,017

Hydro

800

Renewable energy projects (Solar

PV)

310

Total

35

40,012

Coal & Gas

6,966

Total

43

47,178

NTPC Owned

Owned By JVs/Subsidiaries

Regional Spread of Generating Facilities

Regional Spread of Generating Facilities of NTPC plants.

REGION COAL

GAS/Liquid Fuel

Renewable

TOTAL

Northern 9,015

2,344

35

11,394

Western 12,000

1,313

50

13,363

Southern 4,600

360

210

5,170

Eastern

9,470

10

9,480

Islands

Hydro

800

JVs

4,999

1,967

6,966

Total

40,084

5,984

310

47,178

Coal Based Power Stations

With 18 coal based power stations, NTPC is the largest thermal power
generating company in the country. The company has a coal based installed
capacity of 35,085 MW.

Sr. No.

COAL BASED(Owned by NTPC)

STATE

COMMISSIONED CAPACIT

1.

Singrauli

Uttar Pradesh

2,000

2.

Korba

Chhattisgarh

2,600

3.

Ramagundam

Telangana

2,600

4.

Farakka

West Bengal

2,100

5.

Vindhyachal

Madhya Pradesh

4,760

6.

Rihand

Uttar Pradesh

3,000

7.

Kahalgaon

Bihar

2,340

8.

Dadri

Uttar Pradesh

1,820

9.

Talcher Kaniha

Orissa

3,000

10.

Feroze Gandhi, Unchahar

Uttar Pradesh

1,050

11.

Talcher Thermal

Orissa

460

12.

Simhadri

Andhra Pradesh

2,000

13.

Tanda

Uttar Pradesh

440

14.

Badarpur

Delhi

705

15.

Sipat

Chhattisgarh

2,980

16.

Mauda

Maharashta

1,660

17.

Barh

Bihar

1320

18.

Bongiagaon

Assam

250

Total

35,085

Coal Based Joint Ventures/Subsidiaries:

Sr. No.

COAL BASED(Owned by JVs/Subsidiaries)

STATE

COMMISSIONED C

1.

Durgapur

West Bengal

120

Rourkela

Orissa

120

Bhilai

Chhattisgarh

574

Kanti

Bihar

610

IGSTPP, Jhajjar

Haryana

1500

Vallur

Tamil Nadu

1500

Nabinagar-BRBCL

Bihar

250

PUVNL(Patratu)

Jharkhand

325

Total

4,999

Gas Based Power Stations

The details of NTPC gas based power stations is as follows

Sr. No.

GAS BASED

STATE

COMMISSIO
CAPACITY(M

Rajasthan

419.33

(Owned by NTPC)
1.

Anta

2.

Auraiya

Uttar Pradesh

663.36

3.

Kawas

Gujarat

656.20

4.

Dadri

Uttar Pradesh

829.78

5.

Jhanor-Gandhar

Gujarat

657.39

6.

Rajiv Gandhi CCPP Kayamkulam

Kerala

359.58

7.

Faridabad

Haryana

431.59

Total

4,017.23

Gas Based Joint Ventures/Subsidiaries:

Sr. No.

COAL BASED (Owned by JVs/Subsidiaries)

STATE

COMMISSIONED C

1.

RGPPL

Maharashtra

1967.08

Total

1,967.08

Hydro Based Power Projects

NTPC has increased thrust on hydro development for a balanced portfolio for
long term sustainability. The first step in this direction was taken by initiating
investment in Koldam Hydro Electric Power Project located on Satluj river in
Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh. Other hydro project under construction
is Tapovan Vishnugad. On all these projects construction activities are in full
swing.

Sr. No.

HYDRO BASED

STATE

APPROVED
CAPACITY(MW)

COM
CAPA

1.

Koldam (HEPP)

Himachal Pradesh

800

800

2.

Tapovan Vishnugad (HEPP)

Uttarakhand

520

3.

Singrauli CW Discharge(Small Hydro)

Uttar Pradesh

4.

Lata Tapovan

Uttrakhand

171

5.

Rammam

West Bengal

120

1,519

800

Total

Although the company has approx. 16% of the total national capacity it
contributes to over 25% of total power generation due to its focus on
operating its power plants at higher efficiency levels (approx. 80.2% against
the national PLF rate of 64.5%).

INTRODUCTION ABOUT PROJECT

Talcher Thermal Power Station is located in Talcher sub-division of Angul district in
the Indian state of Odisha. The power plant is one of the coal-based power plants
of NTPC. The coal for the power plant is sourced from Jagannath Mines of Mahanadi
Coalfields Limited. Source of water for the power plant is from Brahmani River.

Capacity

4 units of 60 MW each
2 units of 110 MW of each

The total capacity is 460 MW.

This power plant was taken over by NTPC from Odisha State Electricity Board on 3
June 1995.

PRINCIPLE OF STEAM POWER PLANT

The working principle of a steam plant is based upon the Rankine cycle. Generally
steam is taken as the working medium due to its ability to be stable and that its readily
stable. The flow of steam in the plant can be very easily understood by the flow diagram

of the plant.

PRODUCTION OF ELECTRICITY
In a coal based power plant coal is transported from coal mines to the power plant by
railway in wagons or in a merry-go-round system. Coal is unloaded from the wagons to
a moving underground conveyor belt. This coal from the mines is of no uniform size. So
it is taken to the Crusher house and crushed to a size of 20mm. From the crusher house
the coal is either stored in dead storage( generally 40 days coal supply) which serves as
coal supply in case of coal supply bottleneck or to the live storage(8 hours coal supply)
in the raw coal bunker in the boiler house. Raw coal from the raw coal bunker is
supplied to the Coal Mills by a Raw Coal Feeder. The Coal Mills or pulverizer pulverizes
the coal to 200 mesh size. The powdered coal from the coal mills is carried to the boiler
in coal pipes by high pressure hot air. The pulverized coal air mixture is burnt in the
boiler in the combustion zone.
Generally in modern boilers tangential firing system is used i.e. the coal nozzles/ guns
form tangent to a circle. The temperature in fire ball is of the order of 1300 deg.C. The
boiler is a water tube boiler hanging from the top. Water is converted to steam in the
boiler and steam is separated from water in the boiler Drum. The saturated steam from
the boiler drum is taken to the Low Temperature Superheater, Platen Superheater and
Final Superheater respectively for superheating. The superheated steam from the final
superheater is taken to the High Pressure Steam Turbine (HPT). In the HPT the steam
pressure is utilized to rotate the turbine and the resultant is rotational energy. From the
HPT the out coming steam is taken to the Reheater in the boiler to increase its
temperature as the steam becomes wet at the HPT outlet. After reheating this steam is
taken to the Intermediate Pressure Turbine (IPT) and then to the Low Pressure Turbine

(LPT). The outlet of the LPT is sent to the condenser for condensing back to water by a
cooling water system. This condensed water is collected in the Hotwell and is again
sent to the boiler in a closed cycle. The rotational energy imparted to the turbine by high
pressure steam is converted to electrical energy in the Generator.

Diagram of a typical coal-fired thermal power station

COMPONENTS OF COAL FIRED THERMAL POWER STATION

Coal Preparation
i) Fuel preparation system: In coal-fired power stations, the raw feed coal from the
coal storage area is first crushed into small pieces and then conveyed to the coal feed

hoppers at the boilers. The coal is next ground into a very fine powder, so that coal will
undergo complete combustion during combustion process. This is done by pulverizer, a
mechanical device for the grinding of many different types of materials. For example,
they are used to pulverize coal for combustion in the steam-generating furnaces of fossil
fuel power plants.
ii) Dryers: they are used in order to remove the excess moisture from coal mainly
wetted during transport. As the presence of moisture will result in fall in efficiency due to
incomplete combustion and also result in CO emission.

iii) Magnetic separators: Coal which is brought may contain iron particles. These iron
particles may result in wear and tear. The iron particles may include bolts, nuts wire fish
plates etc. so these are unwanted and so are removed with the help of magnetic
separators.
The coal we finally get after these above process are transferred to the storage site.
Purpose of fuel storage is two:
Fuel storage is insurance from failure of normal operating supplies to arrive.
Storage permits some choice of the date of purchase, allowing the purchaser
to take advantage of seasonal market conditions. Storage of coal is primarily a matter
of protection against the coal strikes, failure of the transportation system & general
coal shortages.
There are two types of storage:
Live Storage (boiler room storage): storage from which coal may be
withdrawn to supply combustion equipment with little or no remanding is live
storage. This storage consists of about 24 to 30 hrs. Of coal requirements of
the plant and is usually a covered storage in the plant near the boiler furnace.
The live storage can be provided with bunkers & coal bins. Bunkers are
enough capacity to store the requisite of coal. From bunkers coal is
transferred to the boiler grates.

Dead storage- stored for future use. Mainly it is for longer period of time, and
it is also mandatory to keep a backup of fuel for specified amount of days
depending on the reputation of the company and its connectivity. There are
many forms of storage some of which are
o Stacking the coal in heaps over available open ground areas.
o As in (I). But placed under cover or alternatively in bunkers.
o Allocating special areas & surrounding these with high reinforced
concerted retaking walls.

Boiler and auxiliaries

A Boiler or steam generator essentially is a container into which water can be fed and
steam can be taken out at desired pressure, temperature and flow. This calls for

application of heat on the container. For that the boiler should have a facility to burn a
fuel and release the heat. The functions of a boiler thus can be stated as:

To convert chemical energy of the fuel into heat energy

To transfer this heat energy to water for evaporation as well to steam for
superheating.
The basic components of Boiler are: Furnace and Burners
Steam and Superheating
o Low temperature superheater
o Platen superheater
o Final superheater

Economiser
It is located below the LPSH in the boiler and above pre heater. It is there to improve the
efficiency of boiler by extracting heat from flue gases to heat water and send it to boiler
drum.
Advantages of Economiser include
1) Fuel economy: used to save fuel and increase overall efficiency of boiler plant.
2) Reducing size of boiler: as the feed water is preheated in the economiser and enter
boiler tube at elevated temperature. The heat transfer area required for evaporation
reduced considerably.
Air Preheater
The heat carried out with the flue gases coming out of economiser are further utilized for
preheating the air before supplying to the combustion chamber. It is a necessary
equipment for supply of hot air for drying the coal in pulverized fuel systems to facilitate
grinding and satisfactory combustion of fuel in the furnace
Reheater
Power plant furnaces may have a reheater section containing tubes heated by hot flue
gases outside the tubes. Exhaust steam from the high pressure turbine is rerouted to go
inside the reheater tubes to pick up more energy to go drive intermediate or lower
pressure turbines.
Steam turbines
Steam turbines have been used predominantly as prime mover in all thermal power
stations. The steam turbines are mainly divided into two groups: Impulse turbine
Impulse-reaction turbine
The turbine generator consists of a series of steam turbines interconnected to each
other and a generator on a common shaft. There is a high pressure turbine at one end,
followed by an intermediate pressure turbine, two low pressure turbines, and the

generator. The steam at high temperature (536 c to 540 c) and pressure (140 to 170
kg/cm2) is expanded in the turbine.
Condenser
The condenser condenses the steam from the exhaust of the turbine into liquid to allow
it to be pumped. If the condenser can be made cooler, the pressure of the exhaust
steam is reduced and efficiency of the cycle increases. The functions of a condenser
are:1) To provide lowest economic heat rejection temperature for steam.
2) To convert exhaust steam to water for reserve thus saving on feed water
requirement.
3) To introduce make up water.
We normally use surface condenser although there is one direct contact condenser as
well. In direct contact type exhaust steam is mixed with directly with D.M cooling water.
Boiler feed pump Boiler feed pump is a multi-stage pump provided for pumping feed
water to economiser. BFP is the biggest auxiliary equipment after Boiler and Turbine.
It consumes about 4 to 5 % of total electricity generation.
Cooling tower
The cooling tower is a semi-enclosed device for evaporative cooling of water by contact
with air. The hot water coming out from the condenser is fed to the tower on the top and
allowed to tickle in form of thin sheets or drops. The air flows from bottom of the tower
or perpendicular to the direction of water flow and then exhausts to the atmosphere
after effective cooling.
The cooling towers are of four types: 1. Natural Draft cooling tower
2. Forced Draft cooling tower
3. Induced Draft cooling tower
4. Balanced Draft cooling tower
Fan or draught system
In a boiler it is essential to supply a controlled amount of air to the furnace for effective
combustion of fuel and to evacuate hot gases formed in the furnace through the various
heat transfer area of the boiler. This can be done by using a chimney or mechanical
device such as fans which acts as pump.
i) Natural draught
When the required flow of air and flue gas through a boiler can be obtained by the stack
(chimney) alone, the system is called natural draught. When the gas within the stack is
hot, its specific weight will be less than the cool air outside; therefore the unit pressure
at the base of stack resulting from weight of the column of hot gas within the stack will
be less than the column of extreme cool air. The difference in the pressure will cause a
flow of gas through opening in base of stack. Also the chimney is form of nozzle, so the
pressure at top is very small and gases flow from high pressure to low pressure at the
top.

ii) Mechanized draught

There are 3 types of mechanized draught systems
1) Forced draught system
2) Induced draught system
3) Balanced draught system
Forced draught: In this system a fan called Forced draught fan is installed at the inlet
of the boiler. This fan forces the atmospheric air through the boiler furnace and pushes
out the hot gases from the furnace through superheater, reheater, economiser and air
heater to stacks.
Induced draught: Here a fan called ID fan is provided at the outlet of boiler, that is,
just before the chimney. This fan sucks hot gases from the furnace through the
superheaters, economiser, reheater and discharges gas into the chimney. This results in
the furnace pressure lower than atmosphere and affects the flow of air from outside to
the furnace.
Balanced draught:-In this system both FD fan and ID fan are provided. The FD fan is
utilized to draw control quantity of air from atmosphere and force the same into furnace.
The ID fan sucks the product of combustion from furnace and discharges into chimney.
The point where draught is zero is called balancing point.
Ash handling system
The disposal of ash from a large capacity power station is of same importance as ash is
produced in large quantities. Ash handling is a major problem.
i) Manual handling: While barrows are used for this. The ash is collected directly
through the ash outlet door from the boiler into the container from manually.
ii) Mechanical handling: Mechanical equipment is used for ash disposal, mainly bucket
elevator, belt conveyer. Ash generated is 20% in the form of bottom ash and next 80%
through flue gases, so called Fly ash and collected in ESP.
iii) Electrostatic precipitator: A ESP is a relatively simple device which separates
particles from a gas stream by passing the carrier gas between pairs of electrodes
across which a unidirectional, high voltage potential is placed.
The particles are charged before passing through the field and migrate to an oppositely
charged electrode. It has collection efficiency of more than 99%, but does not work well
for fly ash with a high electrical resistivity (as commonly results from combustion of lowsulphur coal).

Top view of ESP schematic diagram

Generator
Generator or Alternator is the electrical end of a turbo-generator set. It is generally
known as the piece of equipment that converts the mechanical energy of turbine into
electricity. The generation of electricity is based on the principle of electromagnetic
induction.

TRANSFORMERS
A transformer is an electrical device that transfers electrical energy between two or
more circuits through electromagnetic induction.
Types of transformers:
Generator Transformers: This is a step up transformer. This supply gets its primary
supply from generator and its secondary supplies the switchyard from where it is
transmitted to grid. This transformer is oil cooled. The primary of this transformer is
connected in star and secondary in delta. These are four in number.

Station Transformers: This is a step down transformer. It has almost the same
rating as the generator transformer. The primary of this transformer is connected in
delta and secondary in star. These are four in number.

SWITCHYARD
As we know that electrical energy cannot be stored like cells, so what we generate
should be consumed instantaneously. But as the load is not constants therefore we
generate electricity according to need, i.e. the generation depends upon load. The yard
is the place from where the electricity is sent outside. It has both outdoor and indoor
equipment.

Equipment
1. Bus bar
It is a metallic strip or bar (typically copper, brass or aluminum) that
conducts electricity within a switchboard, distribution board, substation, battery
bank, or other electrical apparatus. Its main purpose is to conduct a
substantial current of electricity, and not to function as a structural member.
2. Bus bar Coupler
Two different bus sections of two different power transformers are connected by
means of a bus coupler.
The bus coupler becomes useful when one of the power transformers fails or a
fault occurs in either of the bus sections.

3. Lightning Arrester
A lightning arrester is a device used on electrical power systems and
telecommunication systems to protect the insulation and conductors of the
system from the damaging effects of lightning.
The typical lightning arrester has a high-voltage terminal and a ground terminal.
When a lightning surge (or switching surge, which is very similar) travels along
the power line to the arrester, the current from the surge is diverted through the
arrestor, in most cases to earth.

4. Line Trap
Line traps are cylinder like structures connected in series with HV transmission
lines. A line trap is also called a wave trap. The line trap acts as a barrier or filter
to prevent signal losses. What this does is prevent carrier signals from being
dissipated in the substation or in a tap line/branch of the main transmission path

and grounds in the case of anything happening outside of the carrier

transmission path.
5. Circuit Breaker
A circuit breaker is an automatically operated electrical switch designed to
protect an electrical circuit from damage caused by overload or short circuit.
Its basic function is to detect a fault condition and, by interrupting continuity, to
immediately discontinue electrical flow.
The circuit breaker works along with the relays which give a tripping signal in
case of any irregularity or the faults.
The circuit breaker then opens to open the circuit such that other instruments of
the system can be protected.

6. Isolator
It is used to ensure that an electrical circuit is completely de-energized for service
or maintenance. Such switches are often found in electrical
distribution and industrial applications, where machinery must have its source of
driving power removed for adjustment or repair. High-voltage isolation switches
are used in electrical substations to allow isolation of apparatus such as circuit
breakers, transformers, and transmission lines, for maintenance. The isolator is
usually not intended for normal control of the circuit, but only for safety isolation.
Isolator can be operated either manually or automatically (motorized isolator).
Unlike load switches and circuit breakers, isolators lack a mechanism for
suppression of electric arc, which occurs when conductors carrying high currents
are electrically interrupted. Thus, they are off-load devices, intended to be
opened only after current has been interrupted by some other control device.
Safety regulations of the utility must prevent any attempt to open the isolator
while it supplies a circuit.
7. Autotransformer
An autotransformer is an electrical transformer with only one winding. In an
autotransformer, portions of the same winding act as both the primary and
secondary sides of the transformer. In contrast, an ordinary transformer has
separate primary and secondary windings which are not electrically connected.

Autotransformers are frequently used in power applications to interconnect

systems operating at different voltage classes, for example 132 kV to 220 kV for
transmission. Another application in industry is to adapt machinery built (for
example) for 480 V supplies to operate on a 600 V supply.

8. Unit Auxiliary Transformer

The Unit Auxiliary Transformer is the Power Transformer that provides power to
the auxiliary equipment of a power generating station during its normal operation.
This transformer is connected directly to the generator out-put by a tap-off of the
isolated phase bus duct and thus becomes cheapest source of power to the
generating station.
It is generally a three-winding transformer i.e. one primary and two separate
secondary windings. Primary winding of UAT is equal to the main generator
voltage rating. The secondary windings can have same or different voltages i.e.
generally 11KV and or 13.8 KV as per plant layout.
9. Capacitor Voltage Transformer
A capacitor voltage transformer (CVT or CCVT), is a transformer used
in power systems to step down extra high voltage signals and provide a low
voltage signal, for metering or operating a protective relay.

The circuit diagram for a simple capacitor voltage transformer

In its most basic form, the device consists of three parts: two capacitors across
which the transmission line signal is split, an inductive element to tune the device
to the line frequency, and a voltage transformer to isolate and further step down
the voltage for metering devices or protective relay.
The tuning of the divider to the line frequency makes the overall division ratio
less sensitive to changes in the burden of the connected metering or protection
devices. The device has at least four terminals: a terminal for connection to the
high voltage signal, a ground terminal, and two secondary terminals which
connect to the instrumentation or protective relay.
In practice, capacitor C1 is often constructed as a stack of smaller capacitors
connected in series. This provides a large voltage drop across C 1 and a relatively
small voltage drop across C2. As the majority of the voltage drop is on C 1, this
reduces the required insulation level of the voltage transformer. This makes CVTs
more economical than the wound voltage transformers under high voltage (over
100kV), as the latter one requires more winding and materials.

10. Current Transformer

When current in a circuit is too high to directly apply to measuring instruments, a
current transformer produces a reduced current accurately proportional to current
in the circuit, which can be conveniently connected to measuring and recording
instruments. Current transformers are used in electronic equipment and are
widely used for metering and protective relays in the electrical power industry.

Basic operation of current transformer

The alternating current in the primary produces an alternating magnetic field in

the core, which then induces an alternating current in the secondary. The primary
circuit is largely unaffected by the insertion of the CT. Accurate current
transformers need close coupling between the primary and secondary to ensure
that the secondary current is proportional to the primary current over a wide
current range. The current in the secondary is the current in the primary
(assuming a single turn primary) divided by the number of turns of the secondary.
In the illustration on the right, 'I' is the current in the primary, 'B' is the magnetic
field, 'N' is the number of turns on the secondary, and 'A' is an AC ammeter
11. Potential Transformer
Potential transformer or voltage transformer gets used in electrical power
system for stepping down the system voltage to a safe value which can be fed to
low ratings meters and relays.

12. Relays
A relay is an electrically operated switch. Many relays use an electromagnet to
mechanically operate a switch, but other operating principles are also used, such
as solid-state relays. Relays are used where it is necessary to control a circuit by
a low-power signal (with complete electrical isolation between control and
controlled circuits), or where several circuits must be controlled by one signal .

COAL HANDLING PLANT

In a coal based thermal power plant, the initial process in the power generation is
Coal Handling.

Equipment used in a coal handling plant

1. Pull chord switch
A series of such switches are arranged in series at a 1m distance on the side of conveyor belt. The
power supply to rotor of the conveyor belt is established only if all switches in series are connected.
2. Vibrating feeder
The coal stored in a huge hub is collected on the belt through vibrations created by the
vibrating feeder.
3. Flap gates
These are used to channelize the route of coal through another belt in case the former
is broken or unhealthy. The flap gates open let the coal pass and if closed stop its
movement.
4. Magnetic separator
These are used to separate the ferrous impurities from the coal.
5. Metal detector
These are detect the presence of any ferrous and non-ferrous metal in the coal and
sends a signal to a relay which closes to seize the movement of belt until the metal is
removed. It basically consists of a transmitter and a receiver.
The transmitter consists of a high frequency oscillator, which produces oscillations of
1500 Hz at 15V. The receiver receives this frequency signal. If there is any presence of
metal in the coal. Then this frequency is disturbed and a tripping signal is send to relay
to stop the conveyor belt.
6. Belt weightier
It is used to keep an account of the tension on the belt carrying coal and is moves accordingly
to release tension on the belt.

7. Reclaim hopper
Reclaimation is a process of taking coal from the dead storage for preparation or further
feeding to reclaim hoppers. This is accomplished by belt conveyors.

CONCLUSION
On completion of my vocational training at Talcher Thermal Power Station I have come
to know about how the very necessity of our lives nowadays i.e., electricity is generated
and processes are needed to generate and run the plant on a 24X7 basis.
NTPC Talcher is one the plants in India to be under highest load factor for the maximum
duration of time and that too operating at highest plant efficiencies. This plant is an
example in terms of working efficiency and management of resources to all other
thermal plants in our country. The operating PLF of the NTPC as compared to the rest
of the country is the highest with 87.54% the highest since its inception.
The training gave me an opportunity to clear my concepts from practical point of view
with availability of machinery of such large rating.