{"id":34199,"date":"2023-04-02T03:49:40","date_gmt":"2023-04-01T22:19:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=34199"},"modified":"2025-04-20T09:52:31","modified_gmt":"2025-04-20T04:22:31","slug":"national-electricity-plan-2022-27-coal-fired-projects-back-on-mega-lithium-battery-storage-push","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/national-electricity-plan-2022-27-coal-fired-projects-back-on-mega-lithium-battery-storage-push\/","title":{"rendered":"National Electricity Plan (2022-27): Coal-fired projects back on, mega lithium battery storage push"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What is the National Electricity Plan?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What are the Key Highlights of the National Electricity Plan 2022-27?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What are the Options Available as per the 2022-27 Plan?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What are the Challenges Ahead?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>A new blueprint for the country\u2019s power sector planners &#8211; <strong>the National Electricity Plan (NEP) 2022-27<\/strong> &#8211; marks a discernible reversal in the policy thrust from its last edition.<\/li>\n<li>Earlier the focus was almost <strong>entirely on renewable energy<\/strong> for incremental capacity addition and <strong>fresh coal-fired capacity was virtually ruled out<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is the National Electricity Plan?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The Electricity Act 2003<\/strong> stipulates that the <strong>Central Electricity Authority <\/strong>(CEA) shall prepare a National Electricity Plan in accordance with the <strong>National Electricity Policy<\/strong> and <strong>notify such plan once in 5 years.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>This is &#8211;\n<ul>\n<li>To <strong>formulate short-term <\/strong>(5-year)<strong> and perspective plans<\/strong> (15-year) to <strong>assess the demand<\/strong> for planning capacity addition<\/li>\n<li>To <strong>coordinate the activities<\/strong> of various planning agencies for the optimal utilization of resources<\/li>\n<li>To sub serve the interests of the national economy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The first Plan was notified in 2007, 2nd in 2013 and the <strong>third National Electricity Plan<\/strong> (notified in 2018) covers the detailed Plan for 2017-22 and perspective Plan for 2022-27.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What are the Key Highlights of the National Electricity Plan 2022-27?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/Cwk3_WzJKXo3V4oO5MjK1KkZ5t1dJJ1yVTws4WtR9lK6h0atv_Ni1so1xdGOgXPaT7_Jv7V4gncaPTggk6gYpPprONCUZrYQcXwDT9aHy-BB5evfc5r34vm_9rQ-hFg7ocGg30usiEumu3hllmyUfUI\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Image Caption: Installed Capacity in India<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The coal energy thrust:<\/strong> The fresh draft, in a tacit <strong>admission of the ground realities<\/strong>, cites the <strong>need for fresh coal-based capacity<\/strong> ranging from 17 GW to nearly 28 GW till 2031-32.\n<ul>\n<li>This would be over and above an under-construction coal-based capacity of 25GW (1 giga watt or GW is equal to 1000 megawatts or MW).<\/li>\n<li>An increase in the <strong>plant load factor<\/strong> (PLF) of coal fired plants from 55% up to 2026-27 to 62% in 2031-32<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>The renewable energy thrust<\/strong>: A projected battery storage requirement in 2031-32 of between 51 GW to 84GW with a daily usage rate of 5-hours.\n<ul>\n<li>Estimated to be Rs 10 crore per MW, this could translate into <strong>investments into battery storage between Rs 5 &#8211; 8 lakh crore<\/strong> over the next ten years as backup for renewable capacity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media\">\n<div data-oembed-url=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=I0DJ3is-3jU\">\n<div><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/I0DJ3is-3jU\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What are the Options Available as per the 2022-27 Plan?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Battery Energy Storage systems (BESS)<\/strong> especially based on Lithium &#8211; ion batteries are one of the storage options.\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The cost of the BESS is reducing <\/strong>in an unprecedented way making it one of the preferred options for deployment.<\/li>\n<li>BESS has various advantages of <strong>balancing the grid against load fluctuations<\/strong>, intermittency in generation etc.<\/li>\n<li>Energy storage can provide <strong>energy time-shifting<\/strong> which can be useful with the large-scale deployment of variable renewable energy sources.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>The hybrid generation models<\/strong>. This will basically perform solar energy shifts and provide backup power.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The water-based systems<\/strong>, where no barrage on the river is required (economical).\n<ul>\n<li>During charging the water is lifted to the reservoir and during discharge the water generates electricity.<\/li>\n<li>It\u2019s a closed water cycle with 6% evaporation loss and the water cycle efficiency is 70%.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What are the Challenges Ahead?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The continued reliance on old, inflexible coa<\/strong>l-fired plants for base load capacity.\n<ul>\n<li>India\u2019s vast fleet of coal-fired thermal power plants of 200 MW series are more than 25 years old, run-on old technology and do not promise robust reliability.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Lack of clarity<\/strong> on how the renewables-dominated grid will be actually managed, despite a pronounced reliance on renewable generation for meeting capacity additions.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The inertia<\/strong>, which imparts stability to the grid, has been declining due to poor progress of hydro power and zero inertia solar generators.<\/li>\n<li><strong>There is also no assessment<\/strong> of ramping rate for thermal plants under various scenarios of solar generation going out.<\/li>\n<li>If battery storage is to be relied on, the total fund requirement for the period 2022-27 is estimated to be <strong>Rs. 14.30 lakh crore<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li>However, the CEA report has given a budget of 8 lakhs crore for BESS for a 10-year period.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1) What is the Electricity Act of 2003?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Enacted to transform the power sector in India, the act covers major issues involving generation, distribution, transmission and trading in power.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2) What is the Central Electricity Authority of India (CEA)?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>It is a statutory organisation constituted under the Electricity Act 2003 to advise the government on policy matters and formulates plans for the development of electricity systems.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/business\/commodities\/coal-fired-projects-back-on-mega-lithium-battery-storage-push-in-new-power-policy-blueprint-8532812\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Coal-fired projects back on, mega lithium battery storage push in new power policy blueprint<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to the 2003 Electricity Act, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) is required to create a National Electricity Plan once every five years<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":34200,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-34199","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}