India The power sector in India has been growing rapidly, registering an annual growth rate of 8 to 10 percent. Therefore, the use of environmentally sound technologies in the power sector can make a substantial contribution to addressing pollution problems in India. Environmentally sound technological options for the both supply and the demand side have been considered in the study. Auxiliary consumption in MSEB power plants varies between 8 to 12 percent.
Several factors contribute to high auxiliary consumption in a power plant.
External factors include poor coal quality and coal shortages, backing down of units and reactive generation requirements. Plant-specific factors include operating practices, technology upgrading of auxiliaries and minimising waste of energy. A detailed study of the power plants at Nasik and Parli shows that substantial energy savings are possible through technical upgrading of auxiliaries. Of these measures, ESP modification has already been initiated at both the plants. In addition to these measures, improvements in the cooling tower area were identified for Nasik.