German expertise for thermal plants upgrade

SteelGuru - News

News Wednesday, 17 Dec, 2008
German expertise for thermal plants upgrade

BL reported that thermal power plants in India are set for an upgrade and efficiency improvement as part of an Indo German Energy program that would bring in German expertise.

According to Dr JT Verghese MD of Evonik Energy Services (India) Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Evonik Industries of Germany, which is implementing the program, Evonik has carried out baseline studies of over 85 thermal power plants in India.

Addressing a press conference after the inaugural of a one day workshop at the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, he said that Evonik has studied four thermal power plants which were more than 25 years old in Tamil Nadu. The next step would be identify the areas for upgrading equipment and training personnel. The study indicates that through selective investments, significant improvements could be achieved.

While the improvement could not be expressed immediately in specific terms, he said that the benefits would be apparent. Thermal power plants need to continuously focus on efficiency not just for cost reduction and increasing power availability but also to control pollution. He added that a 1% improvement in efficiency would mean a saving of over 11 million tonne of coal in India

The benchmark study of the 85 plants was to trigger awareness and the potential that could be achieved. The company was in discussions with the electricity boards in West Bengal, Punjab, Maharashtra and Chattisgarh.

As per report, Evonik has extensive expertise in the area and operates over 11,000 MW of the total capacity of thermal plants spread across a number of countries.