Demand for thermal power has reduced as a result of additional renewable capacity, but the overall demand for power had increased this year, said Minister of State for Power and New and Renewable Energy RK Singh.
The Ministry of Power Wednesday said that it expects demand for electricity produced by thermal power stations to improve starting this month, following a drop in generation from renewable energy sources.
“Now the monsoon and windy season is over, the generation from hydro and wind has started reducing. Thus, from November 2019 till March 2020 the electricity demand will largely be met from thermal power stations,” stated the ministry. It added that the plant load factor (PLF) — the measure of a power plant’s output compared to its maximum capacity — of thermal power stations for 2019-20 would improve to around 60 per cent “as per the target.”
Demand for thermal power has reduced as a result of additional renewable capacity, but the overall demand for power had increased this year, said Minister of State for Power and New and Renewable Energy RK Singh.
“We have brought flexibilisation and took major steps to reduce inefficiency in the sector. We have added renewable, therefore, dependency on thermal has reduced but overall power demand has increased as compared to last year,” he said in a tweet Wednesday. “The period April-October 2019 saw the highest growth in hydroelectricity generation in five years at 16 per cent. Renewable energy generation grew by five per cent in the same period. Naturally, this reduced load on coal or thermal power plants,” he added. Green power now contributes to around 27.3 per cent of the country’s overall power mix, compared with 19.6 per cent during 2015-16.
Source : indianexpress
