Conventional Energy Source to meet Power

Demand of India in future

Harsimran Kaur (1635 MER)
Propelled by sustained economic growth and rise in income levels, India is
poised to face significant increase in energy demand in the next few
decades which also translates into higher demand for electricity. The gap
in the electricity demand-supply situation is highlighted by the fact that
the country experienced a peak deficit of 5.2% and energy deficit of 4.2%
in FY 13-14. Considering an energy elasticity of 0.82, India is projected to
require around 7% annual growth in electricity supply to sustain a GDP
growth of around 8.5% p.a. over the next few years. This requires tapping
all potential sources to address the deficit and meet the demand growth
for accelerating economic development while taking into account
considerations of long-term sustainability, environmental and social
aspects.

Installed capacity in india

9%

2%

14%

Coal

Renewable

Hydro

Gas

61%

15%

Nuclear

Fossil Fuels
Coal
It is the most important and abundant fossil fuel in India. It accounts for
55% of the country's energy need. The country's industrial heritage has
been built upon indigenous coal. Commercial primary energy consumption
in India has grown by about 700% in the last four decades.
Of the 301 billion tonnes of hard reserves of coal, 125.9 billion tonnes are
proven, 145.5 billion tonnes indicated and 33.15 billion tonnes inferred.
Hard coal deposits, spread over 27 major coalfields, are mainly confined
to eastern and south central parts of India. Lignite reserves stand at
around 36 billion tonnes, of which 90% occur in the southern State of
Tamil Nadu. Out of a total of 302,087 MW of electricity generated, coal
powered thermal power plants accounted for 185,173 MW as of March,
2016 indicating that most of Indias electricity needs are dependent on
coal.

Figure 1. Indias domestic coal consumption, production and production

targets
CO2 emissions:
Coal is a favourite fuel for the electricity generation in countries like India
and China. Abundant supply of coal locally and sustained high prices for
imported natural gas and oil make coal-fired generation of electricity more
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attractive economically. Coal and lignite based power plants have

approximately 54.42% of the total electric power generation capacity in
India. However, relatively lower calorific value, coupled with high ash
content and inefficient combustion technologies aggravates emission of
greenhouse gases and other pollutants from Indias coal and lignite based
thermal power plants.
Main emissions from coal fired and lignite based thermal power plants are
CO2, NOx, SOx, and air-borne inorganic particles such as fly ash,
carbonaceous material (soot), suspended particulate matter (SPM), and
other trace gas species.

Figure 2. Emission factors of CO2, SO2 and NO in ten Indian thermal

power stations

Figure 3. Scenarios of CO2 emissions from coal based thermal power

plants in India
Clean Coal technology:
The CO2 emissions have been established to have a negative impact on
the environment and human health. As a result, clean coal technologies
are being developed to remove or reduce pollutant emissions to the
atmosphere. Some of the techniques that would be used to accomplish
this

include,

chemically

washing minerals and

impurities

from

the

coal, gasification, improved technology for treating flue gases to remove

pollutants to increasingly stringent levels and at higher efficiency, carbon
capture and storage technologies to capture the carbon dioxide from
the flue gas and dewatering lower rank coals (brown coals) to improve
the calorific

value,

and

thus

the

efficiency

of

the

conversion

into electricity.
Base load plant:
The load on the power system is never constant and undergoes large daily
and seasonal variations. Since the coal fired thermal power plants rely on
the heating of coal for steam conversion and hence running the turbines,
the process requires quite a lot of time for the power station to start.
Therefore, coal fired thermal power plants may not be able to supply for
the intermittent peaking demands which is why they are restrained to
supplying for only the base load.

Oil and Natural gas

India has total reserves of 763.476 mmt of Crude Oil and 1488.73 bcm of
Natural Gas as on April 2015. Domestic crude oil production fell for the
fourth straight year in 2015-16, even as oil consumption rocketed 11%,
pushing up India's import dependence. The country's largest oil producer,
state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), witnessed an output
decline to 18.5 mmt from 18.6 mmt in the previous year. Oil producers

have been struggling with ageing fields where outputs have been
falling. India's import dependence on oil rose to 81% in 2015-16 from
78.5% in the previous year. Natural gas consumption marginally rose to
52 bcm, aided by 14% rise in imports.

Figure 4. Trends of crude oil production in India

Figure 5. Carbon intensity of electricity generation of various fuels.

Nuclear Energy
India's nuclear power industry is undergoing rapid expansion with plans to
increase nuclear power output to 64,000 MW by 2032. India is poorly
endowed with Uranium. Available Uranium supply can only fuel 10,000
MW of the Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR). FBR technology is
critical to developing stage two of Indias nuclear power program. Without
developing the wide-scale use of FBR technology, India will find it difficult
to go beyond 10,000 MW of nuclear capacity based on known indigenous
Uranium resources.
Advantages:
Lower Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Nuclear energy by far has the lowest
impact on the environment since it does not releases any gases like
carbon dioxide, methane which are largely responsible for greenhouse
effect. There is no adverse effect on water, land or any habitats due to the
use of it. Though some greenhouse gases are released while transporting
fuel or extracting energy from uranium.
Powerful and Efficient: Advancement in technologies has made it more
viable option than others. This is one the reason that many countries are
putting huge investments in nuclear power. At present, a small portion of
worlds electricity comes through it.
Reliable: Unlike traditional sources of energy like solar and wind which
require sun or wind to produce electricity, nuclear energy can be produced
from nuclear power plants even in the cases of rough weather conditions.
They can produce power 24/7 and need to be shut down for maintenance
purposes only.
Cheap Electricity: The cost of uranium which is used as a fuel in
generating electricity is quite low. Also, set up costs of nuclear power
plants is relatively high while running cost is low. The average life of
nuclear reactor range from 4.-60 years depending upon its usage. These
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factors when combined make the cost of producing electricity very low.
Even if the cost of uranium rises, the increase in cost of electricity will be
much lower.
Low Fuel Cost: It requires little amount of uranium to produce energy.
When a nuclear reaction happens, it releases million times more energy as
compared to traditional sources of energy.
Easy Transportation: Production of nuclear energy needs very less amount
of raw material. This means that only about 28 gram of uranium releases
as much energy as produced from 100 metric tons of coal. Since its
required in small quantities, transportation of fuel is much easier than
fossil fuels.
Challenges:
Despite all the advantages that nuclear power is supposed to offer it is a
very costly affair. In defence of nuclear power it is said that it is the initial
capital cost that is very high and thereafter it is not a very costly business.
It should not be necessary to impose a high tariff for supplying power from
nuclear plants. But it will still not make nuclear power cheaper than hydro
or thermal power that currently meets the bulk of electricity supply
demand in the country. Further, there is considerable resistance from
locals in view of the associated dangers with any nuclear plant and this
has been further heightened with the recent damage to nuclear
installations in Japan caused by an earthquake and subsequent tsunami.
Figure 6 gives the seismic zone map of India.

Figure 6. Seismic zone map of India

The figure indicates that India lies within the zone of seismic activity and a
very small area is located in zone 1 which is seismically least active. This
needs to be factored into the locating of nuclear power plants and the
federal Minister of Environment and Forests has cautioned to carefully
tread the path of nuclear energy by planning smaller nuclear plants
instead of leapfrogging to 1600 MW plants.

Hydro Power
India is endowed with significant hydroelectric potential and ranks fifth in
the world in terms of usable potential. As per the latest available data,
India has around 42 GW of installed hydropower capacity. This puts the
total capacity which is yet to be tapped at around 67% of the potential.
From a regional perspective, over 93% of the total potential in the north
eastern region is yet to be tapped, primarily in parts of the Brahmaputra
river basin. The scenario is in sharp contrast to the southern and the
western regions where more than 65% of the potential has already been
harnessed.

Figure 7. Status of hydro potential development in India

Advantages:
Less

CO2

emissions:

environmental

and

When

social

developed

practices,

in

accordance

hydropower

plants

with
have

good
the

advantage of producing power that is both renewable and clean, as they

emit less greenhouse gases than traditional fossil fuel plants and do not
emit polluting suspended particulate matter (from the high ash-content of
indigenous coal).
Quick Start-up: Hydropower plants can also start up and shut down quickly
and economically, giving the network operator the vital flexibility to
respond to wide fluctuations in demand across seasons and at different
times of the day. This flexibility is particularly important in a highlypopulated country like India where household electricity demand is a

significant portion of total demand and this demand in concentrated in a

short period of time (usually in the evening).
As an illustration, if the approximately 150 million households in India
were to turn on two 100 watt light bulbs at 7 pm, the power system would
experience an instantaneous surge in demand of about 30,000 MW. Today,
this peak demand is often met by households turning on small gasoline
and diesel generation units, which, in addition to being polluting, are a
serious health hazard in congested areas. And, with rising wealth,
households are switching on a lot more than two light bulbs. Although
hydropower plants are subject to daily and seasonal variations in water
flows (which affects the production of electricity at that point in time),
they are not subject to the fluctuations in fuel costs that trouble thermal
power plants.
Cheap electricity: While hydropower plants have large up-front capital
costs, they also have long and productive lives, which significantly help
reduce costs over time. For example, the Bhakra Nangal plant, now more
than 40 years old, has operating costs of only 0.10 or US$ 0.002 per unit.
Hydropower plants are thus generally cheaper in the long run than natural
gas-based plants, which are constantly at risk from fuel price increases in
the global market.
Multi-purpose dams: While India plans to develop mainly run-of-the-river
projects, multipurpose hydropower plants with water storage facilities can
help manage critical water resources in an integrated manner by serving
as flood controllers as well as sources of irrigation and much-needed
drinking water. The Tehri Dam in Uttarakhand, for instance, which was
commissioned in 2006, today caters to one-third of the drinking water
needs of Delhi, Indias capital.
Socio-economic upliftment: Indias hydro-resources are largely available in
some of the least-developed parts of the country and hydropower plants,
if

designed

appropriately

offer

significant

potential

for

regional

development and poverty alleviation. Hydropower projects that forge

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equitable systems of benefit-sharing and implement targeted local area

development can help local communities improve the quality of their lives
quite significantly.
Trends in hydro power:
Up to the mid-1960s, the share of hydropower as a proportion of Indias
overall installed electricity generation capacity was 46 per cent, which
meant that nearly one in two units powering the countrys electricity grid
was a hydro unit. Half a century later, despite the advancement in civil
engineering technology and the increasing pressure on governments to
reduce the countrys carbon footprint by harnessing clean energy sources,
hydropowers share has plummeted to just around 15 per cent, a record
low.

Figure 8. Target versus achieved capacity addition

Challenges:
Hydropower plays an important role in the energy and development
strategies of India and such natural resource projects are inherently
challenging. Environmental and social impacts are inevitable but they can
be mitigated. Hydropower development in India has seen significant
strides in understanding and addressing these impacts and the lessons
learned from past engagements are now being incorporated in project
selection and design.
These lessons, coupled with suggestions from civil society, have resulted
in changes to the laws and regulations that govern hydropower
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development today. As a result, there have been improvements on the

ground, including greater public consultation with people affected by such
projects; better monitoring of the environmental and social aspects of
projects; and improvements in resettlement policy and practice. The
Government has also ensured that the methodology used by Central
power agencies to select sites has improved, as has the capacity of
various hydropower developing agencies to deal with complexities in
project identification, engineering and design.

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Conclusion
There is a large gap between demand and supply of electricity, which can
be filled by developing large and small hydropower projects. There is large
potential available in this sector which needs to be tapped. During peak
time, hydro power stations, which accept and reject load almost
instantaneously, can meet peaking power demand in no time and provide
quick control of frequency by load-generation balance and thus maintain
proper frequency. Conventional hydro plants

with pondage/storage

provide peaking power and pumped storage schemes provide load during
off peak hours and generate peaking power. Therefore, to meet the
countrys energy demand at a faster pace, development of mega
hydropower projects are required, which warrants the need of innovative
practices

in

construction

aspects

integrating

project

management,

engineering and quality management tools and techniques along with

imbibing suitable mitigation measures addressing the flip side of hydro
sector, as key to success for making up the past generation loss, as far as
possible. Climate change and other negative effects of using fossil fuels
for power generation along with growing concerns over energy security
are driving the expansion of hydropower around the world. Its time India
does that too and the test, though, is to salvage the under-construction
projects

as

first-step

towards

overturning

investment sentiment towards hydro projects.

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the

overtly

negative

References
[1]Moti L. Mittal, Estimates of Emissions from Coal Fired Thermal
Power Plants in India.
[2]http://www.world-nuclear.org
[3]http://coal.nic.in
[4]BP Statistical Review of World Energy June 2015
[5]India's dependence on crude oil imports on rise as consumption
increases, The Economic Times, April 22, 2016
[6]Indian Petroleum and Natural Gas Statistics 2014-15 by Ministry of
Petroleum & Natural Gas
[7] Hydropower: Down to a trickle, The Indian Express, June 10, 2015

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