Thermal Electricity: Power hubs and hot spots

Several states – Chattisgarh, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh among them - are building thermal power capacity far in excess of their foreseeable needs. Chattisgarh, for instance, is developing 21000 MW of thermal power, more than four times the generation capacity that it uses today.

This is however not the complete picture. Chattisgarh has signed dozens of memoranda of understanding (MOU) with companies to generate more than 50,000 MW of power. Most of these companies have joined the pipeline of projects working towards getting environmental clearance from the MoEF. The states profligacy in signing MOU’s is in line with its long stated policy of becoming a “power hub”, of using its large coal deposits to competitive advantage and “exporting” power to other states. Orissa, with similar ambitions, has signed MOU’s with 30 private companies for generating 38000 MW of power, over and above the power generated in state and public sector plants. Some of these projects are in the construction phase, the rest in the pipeline. Andhra Pradesh, too, wants to be a “power hub”, using imported coal at coastal power plants.

In these “power hubs” of the future, the projects (under construction and in the pipeline) are concentrated within a few compact geographical regions. The table below shows some of these ‘thermal hot spots’.

Thermal Hot Spots	District, State	Thermal Power Generation Capacity (MW)			Number of new plants
		In Operation	Being built	In the pipeline
Coast around Krishnapatnam port	Nellore, AP	0	12260	8460	10
Samal reservoir and downstream on Brahmani river	Angul, OR	4420	2250	11710	15
	Dhenkanal, OR	0	5420	4820
Hirakud reservoir and upstream on Mahanadi	Jharsuguda, OR	1620	4400	2660	42
	Raigarh, CG	1300	6360	13040
	Janjgir-Champa, CG	0	8400	22460

Private producers, given the freedom, will invariably pick the locations for thermal plants suited to produce electricity at the lowest cost. The stretch of the Brahmani river in Orissa near Talcher and the stretch of the Mahanadi river just upstream of the Hirakud reservoir are extremely popular and the reasons are not too far to seek. Coalfields are located nearby, the water from the rivers and reservoirs can be accessed for meeting the large cooling water requirements of the thermal plants, and the areas are well connected by National Highways and railways.

The complete piece may be accessed at  India Together