- BACKGROUND -

Power is one of the most critical components of infrastructure crucial for the economic growth and welfare of nations. The existence and development of adequate infrastructure is essential for sustained growth of the Indian economy. India’s power sector is one of the most diversified in the world. Sources of power generation range from conventional sources such as coal, lignite, natural gas, oil, hydro and nuclear power to viable non-conventional sources such as wind, solar, and agricultural and domestic waste. Electricity demand in the country has increased rapidly and is expected to rise further in the years to come. In order to meet the increasing demand for electricity in the country, a massive addition to the installed generating capacity is required.

The power sector in India has seen a continuous development in the advancements of technologies to increase efficiency and productivity, to better performance. The assessment of productivity and performance of a thermal power plant could be carried out by monitoring heat rate, which signifies the performance of a power plant in terms of the thermal energy consumed for production of one unit of electricity. Lowering the heat rate of a thermal power plant better is the performance. Heat Rate is one of the critical factors that contribute towards gross margin for thermal power plants. Heat rate represents fuel consumption rate for specific levels of power plant output and inverse of plant efficiency. It has direct impact on power generation cost. Reduction in Heat rate have positive impact and reduction generation costs, contributing to the operating margin of power generation companies.

Traditional ways to improve the heat rate involve large capital investments like the introduction of variable frequency drives, intelligent soot blowing systems, automated drains etc. These investments, combined with Operation & maintenance improvements like cycle optimization, arresting of leakages and operating the equipment at full performance, are typically applied today by power generation plants. The heat rate of a coal-fired power plant represents the amount of heat, typically in Btus, needed to generate 1 kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity. Typical units for heat rate are Btu/kWh. Heat rate is the heat energy input per unit of electrical energy output, or fuel consumption rate for specific levels of power plant output. Heat rate is also the inverse of plant efficiency. Lower is better.

Past interventions have improved the operating performance of power plants. Power plant efficiency, typically characterized by heat rate has been addressed through various guidelines/regulations introduced over the years. National and state level institutions have been created to ensure compliance so that performance levels are maintained in the sector.

With this in mind, we Mission Energy Foundation shall host a Two Day Conference & Awards on 02 - 03 February 2023 at Hyatt Centric - New Delhi.

The conference aims at knowledge sharing and problem solving for thermal power plants in India. The prime focus of the conference is to bring together the major stakeholders and decision makers to introduce the thermal power industry with the latest technologies in operating Heat Rate of plants and maintaining global benchmarks.