The Minister of Power, Shri Jyotiradita M. Scindia informed Rajya Sabha today that the share of thermal power in total power production in country for current year 2012-13 (April-November, 2012) is 81.46% :-
| Year | Total Generation (Million Unit) | Thermal Generation (Million Unit) | % of Thermal Power out of Total Power |
|
2012-13 (April-November, 2012) |
607,168.16 |
494,600.36 |
81.46 |
In order to meet the shortfall between requirement of domestic coal and its availability, power utilities have been importing coal for blending in power stations designed to operate on domestic coal. In addition, coal is also imported by thermal power stations designed to operate on imported coal. The detail of import of coal by the power utilities during the last
five years and for current year (April to November, 2012) are given as under:
| Year |
Coal import by Thermal Power Stations |
Total Import (MT) | |
| Designed to operate on Domestic coal (for blending)
(In Million Ton) |
Designed to operate on Imported coal
(In Million Ton) |
||
| Domestic coal Based TPS (for blending) | Imported coal Based TPS | ||
| 2007-08 |
8.1 |
2.1 |
10.2 |
| 2008-09 |
13.9 |
2.2 |
16.1 |
| 2009-10 |
18.8 |
4.4 |
23.2 |
| 2010-11 |
21.3 |
9.2 |
30.5 |
| 2011-12 |
27.2 |
17.7 |
44.9 |
| 2012-13
(upto Nov.) |
18.6 |
17.9 |
36.5 |
Increase in variable cost of generation with 10% of blending of imported coal in the plant design to operate on the domestic coal is of the order of 10 to 45 paisa per Kilowatt hour depending upon location of plant.
To keep the operating cost of generating power plants at reasonable level, the new thermal power plants are based on super critical / ultra super critical technology with higher plant efficiency.