Lok Sabha Question No. 3020 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-08-04
Subject: Power Load Factor
Ministry: POWER
Asked by: Girish Bhalchandra Bapat, Pritam Gopinath Munde, Rahul Ramesh Shewale, Chandra Sekhar Sahu

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF POWER LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3020 ANSWERED ON 04.08.2022

## POWER LOAD FACTOR

3020. SHRI GIRISH BHALCHANDRA BAPAT: DR. PRITAM GOPINATHRAO MUNDE: SHRI RAHUL RAMESH SHEWALE: SHRI CHANDRA SEKHAR SAHU:

Will the Minister of POWER be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  country's  installed  capacity  to  generate  electricity  is  insufficient  to support 7-8 percent annual economic growth;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto;
- (c) whether except for renewables the perceptual share of all other energy sources have decreased overtime;
- (d) if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto;
- (e) whether Power Load Factor (PLF) is extremely low in the country and very little effort is being made to improve it;
- (f) if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto; and
- (g) the time by which any concrete steps would be finalised to improve the PLF?

## A N S W E R

## THE MINISTER OF POWER AND NEW & RENEWABLE ENERGY

(SHRI R.K. SINGH)

(a) & (b) : At present there is adequate installed capacity in the country to meet the demand of power. As on 30.06.2022, the installed generation capacity of the county was 403.76 Giga Watt (GW), as against the Peak Power Demand of around 215.89 Giga Watt (GW), in the country which had occurred in the month of April, 2022.

In  order  to  meet  the  consistent  increase  in  demand  of  electricity  in  the country, Thermal Power Projects (39 units) of aggregate capacity 27,550 MW are under construction in the country. Further, 36 Hydro Electric Projects (above 25 MW capacity) totalling  to  14,103.5  MW  are  also  being  implemented  in  the  country.  Apart  from  this, Nuclear  Power  Plants  of  8,700  MW  capacity  are  under  construction  and  7,000  MW  of Nuclear  Power  Plants  have  been  accorded  Administrative  Approval  and  Financial Sanction.

..........2.

(c) & (d) : The share  of  other  energy  sources  (Coal,  Lignite,  Gas,  Nuclear,  etc.)  has reduced  to  60.15%  from  68.23%  during  the  last  Ten  years.  Whereas  the  Renewable Energy sources capacity (Solar, Wind, Hydro, etc) has increased from 31.77% to 39.85%. This  is  a  welcome  development  and  is  outcome  of  our  efforts  to  promote  renewable energy sources.

(e) to (g) : The  PLF  of  units  depend  on  a  number  of  factors  such  as  total  energy demand, generation from various sources like hydro, nuclear, gas and renewables etc. In addition, PLF of station also depends upon no. of the other factors like outages for planned  maintenance,  forced  outages,  availability  of  required  quality  and  quantity  of fuel, availability of transmission network etc. Presently, the PLF for coal/lignite based power plant for the current year 2022-23 (up to June, 2022) is 69.5%.

The Central Government's thrust is on production of energy from renewable resources to mitigate greenhouse gases. The Indian Electricity Grid Code notified by the Central  Electricity  Regulatory  Commission  (CERC)  accords  'Must  Run  Status'  to Renewable Energy projects (Solar, Wind & Small Hydro) which therefore get dispatched on  priority  and  are  generally  fully  utilized,  and  the  generation  from  the  hydro  power plants is also generally fully utilized. The utilization of coal/lignite based plants depends on balance generation required from thermal Stations, and the PLF of such fossil based plants is likely to reduce further in the coming times.

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