Performance of thermal power generating units

Performance of thermal power generating units

The installed capacity of the thermal power generating units contributes for about 66.4% of the total installed capacity. The performance of the thermal power generating units, therefore play a significant role in meeting the demand supply gap. Based on the Central Electricity Authority annual report for the year 2004-2005, the

few of the average performance parameters of the Indian thermal power plants for the last 4 years are as below.

Forced outage -  10.56%

Planned maintenance -  8.56%

Operating availability factor  -  80.5%

Plant load factor -  72.5%

(Source: Annual report – Performance review of thermal power stations 2004- 2005)

The above performance figures are based on the data collected from about 375 thermal power units with a cumulative capacity of about 64,646 MW. As can be seen from the above table, Significant efforts have been taken by the individual power generating units to improve the plant load factor. The average plant load factor has increased from 69% to 74.8% in the past four years. The average capacity augmentation last decade is about 4.4%, whereas increase in power generation is about 7%. This clearly indicates the continuous improvement of the plant load factor of the power generating units.