Sasan Village of the Singrauli district. Reliance power owns this power plant integrated with a coal mine.
2 Tiroda Thermal Power Plant, Maharashtra: It holds an installed capacity of 3,300-MW plant which covers an area of 454.8 ha owned by Adani power. It uses water from the Wainganga River to go ahead with its operations.
3 Talcher Super Thermal Power Station, Odisha: It holds an installed capacity of 3,000 MW owned by NTPC situated in the Angul district of Odisha.
4 Vindhyachal Thermal Power Station, Madhya Pradesh: It holds an installed capacity of 4,760 MW owned by NTPC. Presently, this is the biggest thermal power plant in India.
5 Mundra Thermal Power Station, Gujarat: It holds an installed capacity of 4,620 MW owned by Adani power. Presently, this is the second biggest thermal power plant in India.
6 Mundra Ultra Mega Power Plant, Gujarat: This is another one situated in Kutch district holds an installed capacity of 4,000 MW owned by CGPL.
7 Rihand Thermal Power Station, Uttar Pradesh: It holds an installed capacity of 3,000 MW owned by NTPC. The plant generates and supplies electricity to different states in the northern part of India such as Uttarpradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh.
8 Sipat Thermal Power Plant, Chhattisgarh: It holds an installed capacity of 2,980 MW owned by NTPC. This is the eighth largest thermal power plant in India.
9 Chandrapur Super Thermal Power Station, Maharashtra: It holds an installed capacity of 2,920 MW operated by Maharashtra state power generation company.
10 NTPC Dadri, Uttar Pradesh: It holds an installed capacity of 2,637 MW owned by NTPC. This is the sixth largest thermal power plant in India.
2.3 Gas-Based Power Generation
India’s power generation is contributed almost by all types of conventional and non-conventional power generating plants. But, it is always inclined toward the coal-based power generation. With the increasing new establishments and demands, it is stated that the natural availability of coal will be limited and the coal sector will face a shortfall in the upcoming future.
Due to the given limitations on coal, natural gas plays an important role in India’s power sector. As compared to coal, its environmental impacts are comparatively less, which makes gas-based power generation more attractive [5].
2.3.1 Basics of Gas-Based Power Generation
Gas-based power plant is similar to a steam turbine power plant, with the only difference that, here, we use compressed high-pressure air to rotate the turbine. The schematic diagram of a typical gas turbine power plant is shown in Figure 2.3. It has three major parts:
1 Compressor
2 Combustor
3 Turbine
The air or natural gas is compressed in the compressor. The compressed air then passes through the combustor where the air is combusted to high temperature and high pressure. This high-pressure air is used to run the turbine, which, in turn, rotates the alternator to produce electricity. This is a simple cycle gas plant. In a combined cycle gas plant, the heat produced from combustion is used for industrial purposes through a heat recovery steam generator [6, 7].
Figure 2.3 A typical gas turbine power plant.
2.3.2 Major Gas-Based Power Plants in India
Out of 65 gas-based power plants in India, 7 major power plants are owned by NTPC and they are given below:
| S. no. | Names | Commissioned capacity (in MW) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anta | 419.33 |
| 2 | Auraiya | 663.36 |
| 3 | Kawas | 656.20 |
| 4 | Dadri | 829.78 |
| 5 | Thaner-Gandhar | 657.39 |
| 6 | Rajiv Gandhi CPP Kayamkulam | 359.58 |
| 7 | Faridabad | 431.59 |
India is the third largest producer and third largest consumer with an installed grid capacity of 370.106 GW as of 31 March 2020. Out of which 48,497 MW of power generation is contributed by gas-based power plants.
Advantages
As compared with the thermal power plant, it requires small land availability for the power plant setup.
The construction of a gas-based power plant is simpler.
Operational cost and the per-unit cost is low.
It offers black start facilities.
Burning of natural gases produces less pollutants like NOX and SOX.
Disadvantages
Efficiency is less.
Due to high temperature of the system, the lifetime of the power plant is reduced considerably.
The Government of India plans a new scheme to revive a 24,000-MW gas power plant. This proposed scheme hopes to help operate the power stations at 90% capacity by selling the bundled power output with solar energy [2].
2.4 Nuclear Power Plants
Ever since nuclear power came into existence, it has led to various debates on disposal of its wastes and the detrimental effect of such wastes to the mankind. But, many of the nuclear power’s advantages are behind closed doors. It has emerged as one of those power-producing methods that produce considerably less amount of greenhouse gases. Enrico Fermi and his team were the people behind today’s nuclear power plants. Atoms have loads of energy in them. They only need to be explored by either fission or fusion. Nuclear power plants involve nuclear reactors that contain and control nuclear chain reactions. They also have fuel rods to feed reactors and moderators, control rods, coolants, etc., hope that showed a spotlight on nuclear power [8].
2.4.1 India’s Hold in Nuclear Power
It is a prominent fact that India stands third among the world’s consumers and producers of electricity. The nuclear plants deliver 6.7 GW of power. Of the total power produced in India, about 2% is produced from Nuclear power. When it comes to worldwide production, India takes 1.2% share, thereby standing at 15th position. India has also signed agreements and treaties with countries like France and Russia to empower and strengthen the nation’s nuclear power production [9]. As many plants have been planned and few are already under construction, the position of India and the contribution