“WBPDCL has touched the zenith, in frontline with national behemoths”

West Bengal Power Development Corp Ltd. has set a new benchmark in power generation, with its power plants securing top spots in the country's PLF rankings. Bakreshwar power station has claimed the first place, followed by Santaldih TPS and Sagardighi in second and fifth position, respectively. Dr. Pullichalil Bava Salim, IAS, Chairman & Managing Director of WBPDCL, has been spearheading the journey towards making the organisation energy efficient as well as self-sufficient in fuel supply by opening new captive coal mines. In an exclusive interview with Arindam Bandyopadhyay of Coal Insights, he shared the strategies being taken by the state genco as well as the state of the Indian power sector.

In 2022-23, India’s power generation has recorded the highest growth in over a decade, thanks to the primacy of coal as major fuel. What is your outlook on electricity demand and supply scenario in India over the next 10 years and the position of coal in the energy basket?

The current installed capacity of the country, as of March 31, 2023 is 415.4 gigawatt (GW), which includes 236.68 GW of thermal and 66.8 GW of solar.

As per the 20th Electric Power Survey, conducted by Central Electricity Authority (CEA), the peak electricity demand is expected to be 334.8 GW with annual energy requirement of 2,279.7 billion units (BU) by the year 2029-30.

Capacity addition within 2022-30 is expected to be 171 GW which comprises 26.9 GW from thermal and 92.5 GW from solar.

Expected gross generation from coal and lignite-based power plant is estimated to be 1,515.82 BU during 2029-30.

The impact of Electric Vehicles on demand in 2029-30 is likely to be 3 GW in Peak Demand and 15 BU in Energy requirement.

Additional energy requirement for the country on account of green hydrogen production of around 10 million tons (mt) (considering only 5 mt load on Grid) has been estimated as 250 BU by FY30.

All India energy requirements off set due to Solar Roof Top installation has been estimated as 34.8 BU in 2029-30.

All India energy requirements offset due to solar pump installation has been estimated at 2.4 BU in 2029-30.

In FY23, power sector’s cumulative coal consumption was recorded at 776.8 mt against total receipt of 787.3 mt, including domestic (731.7 mt) and import (55.6 mt).

Coal requirement for 2029-30 has been worked out to be about 1,019.6 mt, considering specific coal consumption of 0.666 kg/kWh plus 1 percent transportation loss.