Power generation: A fool’s errand

The government has focused on improving power generation which it believes somewhat mistakenly to be the major issue plaguing the energy sector. However, when going through the latest Economic Survey, the glaring statement: “There was decline in generation as it remained 85,206 GW/h during July -March FY 2017 compared to 101,970 GW/h during July-March FY 2016”, leaves a question mark on the actual additions and their generation capacities.

If one goes through the list of power projects, then the additions since 2015 include: 400MW of solar, 480MW wind, 340 MW nuclear, 425MW Nandipur and 760MW Bhikki which is a very recent addition and some bagasse based power plants.

The catch however is that even though a combined 880MW from renewables is positive in terms of improving the energy mix; yet from a generation point of view, the actual addition to the system will be considerably less.

For example, if an average capacity utilization factor of 19 percent is taken for solar power plants and 35 percent for wind, then the actual generation capacity comes about to be 76MW for solar and 168MW for wind power plants.

Therefore the actual generation capacity of renewables in the past two years has been 244MW with the nuclear power plant as the only reliable and significant addition in the past two years. Nandipur has been a fiasco from the start and has provided intermittent generation capacity with a considerable loss to the exchequer in the process as well.

So if the government was in fact thinking that these additions would alleviate the rampant load-shedding, considerably then it was a fool’s wish. Moreover, if this is the state of the generation sector which it claims to have worked most upon, then one can only imagine the state of the distribution and transmission networks.

It is very encouraging for the government to quote its achievement of addition of 2000MW in the past two years but informed energy experts within the state must surely know that although it looks good on paper, the installed capacity is seldom an indication of the actual generation capacity of a power plant. If it is to give a pat on the back for a job well done, then it is ill-deserved.