The start of a flexibility study in India: VGB team visits two NTPC power plants

At the beginning of March a VGB team visited the power plants Dadri and Simhadri, which are owned and operated by India's largest energy provider NTPC, thus enabling it to gather comprehensive information about plant operation. This visit marks the start of a technical study about the flexibility potential of thermal power plants in India. This study is part of a Flexibility Roadmap, which has been developed under the auspices of the Indo-German Energy Forum (IGEF) and the support of the Excellence Enhancement Centre (EEC).

At the beginning of March a VGB team visited the power plants Dadri and Simhadri, which are owned and operated by India's largest energy provider NTPC, thus enabling it to gather comprehensive information about plant operation. This visit marks the start of a technical study about the flexibility potential of thermal power plants in India. This study is part of a Flexibility Roadmap, which has been developed under the auspices of the Indo-German Energy Forum (IGEF) and the support of the Excellence Enhancement Centre (EEC). In the IGEF Flexibility Task Force, which is headed by Mr. K.K. Sharma, the Director Operations at NTPC, Indian and German experts develop measures and recommendations to enable thermal power plants to be operated in a flexible manner with renewable energies. Besides NTPC and EEC, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) and POSOCO (Power System Operation Corporation Ltd.) are other important task force members from the Indian side.

The start of a flexibility study in India: VGB team visits two NTPC power plants

From reference plant to total concept

Support for this study is provided by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. The goal of the study is to identify specific measures for flexible operation using two reference power plants as an example and to evaluate the potential based on a cost-benefit analysis. For this reason, plants were selected that are constructed in a similar fashion to many power plants operating in India. The investigations focused on the coal-fired 210 MW block plants in Dadri and the 500 MW block plant in Simhadri. During the visit to the plants, the VGB team, comprising experts from VGB and STEAG Energy Services, could gain a good impression of both plants and collect necessary operating data and information as well as develop good working relationships with NTPC operating personnel. The team was supported by NTPC experts from headquarters in New Delhi as well as by experts from EEC, New Delhi.

Memorandum of Understanding between CEA and VGB renewed

During the Indian trip, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) and the VGB renewed their existing Memorandum of Understanding. It documents their mutual interest in cooperating in all questions relating to energy generation and was already signed for the first time in 2010. One successful result of this cooperation is the establishment of the Indian sector platform, EEC. During the signing ceremony, Mr. Ravindra Kumar Verma, Chairperson of the CEA, stressed the many challenges that Indian and German energy companies face. These challenges provide sufficient reason for joint projects and knowledge sharing. The CEA, as the operative organisation of the Indian Energy Ministry and an EEC member, wants to play a decisive role in this exchange of knowledge and experience.

The VGB team experienced firsthand how Indian power plant operators really are confronted with the same challenges as their German colleagues. Partial-load operation and load fluctuations arising because of the feeding in of renewable energies are already high on the agenda. In light of the ambitious expansion goals for renewable energies – an increase in installed performance to 175 GW by 2020 – these conditions should soon by part of day-to-day reality. The current installed total performance in India stands at 309 GW.