14 Jun 2009
Flexible power plants are said to have more advantages than setting up standard large scale power plants.
- The 10 flexible power plants of 200 MW capacity can be set up in one to two years, compared to six to seven years for 2,000 MW UMPP power plants.
- Since flexible power plants can be stopped and started at different hours of the day, the transmission losses will be less.
- Large power plants need large investments and this has often proved to be a major bottleneck and has stalled many a planned project
Wartsila India, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Finnish company Wartsila Corp, a significant supplier of decentralised power plant is in effort to bring this global experience to India. The company says, India relies heavily on coal-based thermal plants, which today account for over 50 per cent its generation capacity. These plants operate at a thermal efficiency of less than 30 per cent. There is relatively inefficient use of energy and the need to introduce energy conservation measures. It also said, the country has set up 78,000 MW target for the 11th Five-Year Plan and it requires 17,000 MW to wipe out the existing shortage between current demand and supply.
Wartsila India has installed over 250 decentralised power plants in India generating around 3,200 MW.
Source: Economic Times
