What is co-generation?

• Among several systems required in a thermal power plant the key ones are a boiler, a turbine, and a generator.

Getting to know the boiler!

• A boiler, as the name suggests, is a place where water is boiled to make steam.
• It is made up of about 100 miles of pipes, all welded together for better heat flow from the fire to the water.
• A big furnace, 14 storeys high provides the required heat to the water.
• The reservoir at the top collects steam for delivery to a high pressure turbine.
• Well, after all the energy from steam is used up by the turbine, it is sent to a condenser.
• The condenser turns the leftover steam to water and a pump sends it back to the boiler.
• This completes the boiler cycle.

The turbine!

• In simple terms, a steam turbine works by using a heat source (gas, coal, nuclear, solar) to heat water to extremely high temperatures until it is converted into steam.
• The turbines are connected to a generator with an axle, which in turn produces energy via a magnetic field that produces an electric current.

• Coal, black or brown, consists mainly of carbon, formed by the compressed vegetative remains of past ages.
• Coal is extracted from the depths of the earth, in layers sandwiched by shale, sandstone, limestone and other rocks.
• Mining can be of two types: open cast and underground mining.
• The largest part of coal production in India comes from the coalfields of Chhattisgarh, followed by Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, and Jharkhand.

• Petroleum, an inflammable liquid composed primarily of 90 to 98 percent of hydrocarbons, the rest comprising chiefly of organic compounds.
• In India, as you know, crude oil is produced both onshore and offshore.
• The offshore production contributes nearly two-thirds of the total crude oil production in India, while the onshore production is restricted to the states of Gujarat, Assam, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh.
• However, the demand for oil in India cannot be met by domestic production.
• As a result, the country has to import, both in the form of crude oil and oil products.
• Use of oil for power generation is indeed limited in our country.
• It is used mainly in the thermal stations close to the oil wells and refineries and maybe used in diesel and gas turbine stations.
• Natural gas is mainly available both alone and in association with crude oil.
• In India, most of the natural gas output comes from associated gas fields.
• Around 70 per cent of our current gas production comes from offshore Bombay High field and onshore fields in Gujarat
• The production from established fields is expected to reach a higher level as the demand for natural gas for power generation increases.

• As of April 2021, India has a total Thermal installed capacity of 234 GW, of which 53% of the thermal power is obtained from coal and the rest from Lignite, Diesel, and Gas.
• The private sector in the power industry in India generates 47.4% of the country’s thermal power, whereas States and the Centre generate 27.1% and 25.5%, respectively.
• Indian power sector is undergoing a significant change that has redefined the industry outlook.
• The power industry's future in India is bright, and sustained economic growth continues to drive electricity demand in India.
• The Government of India’s focus on attaining ‘Power for all’ has accelerated capacity addition in the country.
• In the earlier stages of power development, the thermal power stations consisted of several small widely scattered units.
• The first step in development of thermal power on a large scale was the establishment of power station in Bokaro.
• Bokaro later became the forerunner for the chain of thermal power stations that have developed subsequently, including large thermal stations like Neyveli, Dhuvaran, Korba, Trombay, etc.
• Large findings of coal have also made it possible to set up new projects in Singrauli, Korba, Talcher and several other places.

• Old inefficient plants continue to operate whereas more efficient plants are underutilized.
• As the gap between the average cost of supply (ACS) and average revenue realized (ARR) persists due to high aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses, distribution companies (discoms) use load shedding to minimize losses.
• Although legally independent, Regulatory Commissions are unable to fully regulate discoms and fix rational tariffs.
• Unmetered power supply to agriculture provides no incentive to farmers to use electricity efficiently.
• There is a lot of hidden demand because of unreliable supply and load shedding.
• State power utilities are not able to invest in system improvements due to their poor financial health.
• High industrial/commercial tariff and the cross-subsidy regime have affected the competitiveness of the industrial and commercial sectors.

• Promote smart grid and smart meters.
• All PPAs including those with state generation companies (gencos) should be based on competitive bidding.
• Introduce a capacity market to encourage flexible capacity for peak demand and intermittency
• Privatizing state distribution utilities and/or the use of a franchisee model will reduce AT&C losses.
• Discoms may adopt a franchisee model for its retail business in rural areas and stipulate a minimum level of performance parameters, including the use of decentralized generation sources and storage systems for local reliability and resilience.
• Regulatory bodies need to be further strengthened and made truly independent.
• For agriculture, an upfront subsidy per acre of land through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) may be considered instead of providing separate subsidies for fertilizers, electricity, crop insurance etc.
• Promote the use of solar pumps for agriculture. Local discoms should buy surplus power from the farmer.
• Discoms may be fined for load shedding.
• Ensure effective enforcement of a cap on cross-subsidy and open access. It is also necessary to remove high open access charges. Actively promote cross-border electricity trade to utilize existing/upcoming generation assets.
• Introduce time-of-day tariff to promote the use of renewable energy.
• Introduce performance-based incentives in the tariff structure.
• To manage the demand for power, it is necessary to introduce 100 per cent metering, net metering, smart meters, and metering of electricity supplied to agriculture.