GEOGRAPHY PROJECT THERMAL ELECTRICTY

1. GEOGRAPHY PROJECTTHERMAL ELECTRICTY By: Hamna Javed , Ameema Asad, Nawal Urooj and Bisma Rehman

2. Function of the thermal power plant • Much of the world’s electricity is generated thermally using non-renewable fuels.  Coal is the world's most abundant fossil fuel and the fuel most often used to generate thermal electricity.  • Coal-fired units produce electricity by burning coal in a boiler to heat water to produce steam.

3. The steam, at tremendous pressure, flows into a turbine, which spins a generator to produce electricity. The steam is cooled, condensed back into water, and returned to the boiler to start the process over.

4. How it works!

5. Articles

6. Power in Pakistan, Market Outlook to 2020, 2011 Update - Capacity, Generation, Regulations, Power Plants, Companies • DUBLIN -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of GlobalData's new report "Thermal Power in Pakistan, Market Outlook to 2020, 2011 Update - Capacity, Generation, Regulations, Power Plants, Companies" to their offering.This report gives a view of the country's thermal energy market and provides forecasts to 2020.

7. This report includes information on thermal (coal, oil and gas) installed capacity and generation. It provides information on key trends, profiles of major industry participants, information on major power plants and analysis of important deals. This along with detailed information on the regulatory framework and key policies governing the industry, provides a comprehensive understanding of the market for thermal power in the country. This report is built using data and information sourced from proprietary databases, primary and secondary research and in-house analysis by Global Data's team of industry experts. • Source: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_20110629/ai_n57753676/

8. State-run thermal power plants Pakistan Energy Outlook seeks privatisation of plantsBy Ijaz KakakhelISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Energy Outlook launched on Tuesday forwarded multiple recommendations including privatization of state-owned thermal power plants based on oil, gas and coal to the government. The outlook was launched on last day of the energy conference, which began from Sunday. According to the report, Pakistan’s energy sector is in a state of crisis and the over the past few years has negatively impacted the economic development of the country. Primary energy consumption in the country has grown by almost 80 percent over the past 15 years, from 34 million tones oil equivalent (TOE) in 1994-95 to 61 million TOE in 2009-10 and has supported the average gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate in the country of about 4.5 percent per annum.

9. However, since 2006-07 energy supply has been unable to meet the country’s requirement leading to shortages. The report revealed that country has power generation capacity of 20,000 megawatts (MW), in which about 13,000 MW is effective. It needs to be at least double in the next 15 years. The state-owned thermal power plants having generation capacity of 5,000 MW have low conversion efficiencies and are expensive to maintain and operate. After privatization of these thermal power plants, they will operate in a competitive market with no requirement of government support. The outlook also revealed that the hydel and nuclear power generation will remain a state responsibility, and their tariff will be adjusted to provide funds for building new capacity.  The report further revealed that the government-controlled power sector has become heavily politicized, and is unable to improve its performance, therefore, it should be privatized. It also recommended the government to allow all power distribution and marketing companies (DISCOs) to operate in a competitive power market with open access for third-party power supplies.

10. . The report also suggested that high-voltage power transmission to continue being a government responsibility via the state-controlled National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC), with open-access for all power suppliers. The Energy Outlook asked the government that the single national power tariff be disbanded and de-centralized to the multiple DISCOs to reflect the true power consists in different parts of the country. The power tariff for each distribution company should be de-regulated, with no pricing slabs and no government subsidy.  It revealed that indigenous natural gas is the largest source of energy supply in the country contributing 27.7 million TOE (45.4 percent) in 2009-10, followed by oil products, mainly imports, at 21.3 million TOE (34.9 percent), hydel power at 7.5 million TOE (12.3 percent), coal, mainly imports at 3.7 million TOE (6.1 percent) and nuclear power at 0.8 million TOE (1.3 percent).

11. It shows that consumption of indigenous natural gas has grown rapidly in all sectors of the economy (residential, commercial, industrial, transport and power) over the past 15 years, driven by growing availability of gas and a low, government-controlled gas price as compared with alternate fuel prices. As a result, Pakistan has developed a vast natural gas transmission and distribution network across the country The report further shows that it is unlikely that Pakistan will be able to substantially develop its other indigenous energy sources of hydel power and coal in next 15 years under current policies, and the energy import requirements of the country may grow from the present 30 percent to over 75 percent of the energy mix by 2025-26 costing over $50 billion per annum.. . The report says that the government-run power sector, one of the lowest consumers of primary energy, is confronting growing problems due to an unrealistic power tariff, high inefficiencies, low payment recovery and the inability of the government to manage its subsidies’ mechanism. This has led to a serious ‘circular debt’ issue, which is becoming a barrier for future energy sector investments.

12. The report recommended that natural gas pricing be made compatible with pricing of replacement fuels in different sectors (LPG, fuel oil, LNG/pipeline imports) via an enhanced gas surcharge. It reveals the gas prices in Pakistan are very low. Therefore, pricing for new natural gas supplies, both domestic and imports be de-regulated and pricing slabs be abolished with a single natural gas price for all volumes. The Energy Outlook further showed Pakistan’s indigenous natural gas reserves are declining and a low gas price has become a significant disincentive in attractive new gas supplies and for efficiency and conservation creating licensing and quota culture, either through increased domestic exploration activities or via imports of LNG or regional gas pipeline imports. If current gas policies persist, Pakistan’s natural gas supply is expected to decline from 4 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in 2010-11 to less than 1 bcfd by 2025-26. This will lead to a growing gas/energy shortfall reaching 8 bcfd (over 50 million TOE) by 2025-26 and will depress Pakistan’s average GDP growth rate over the next 15 years. 

14. Locations of thermal power plants in Pakistan

15. Existing Locations • The main centre for the production of thermal power in Sindh is Karachi. Other important thermal stations in Sindh are located at Kotri, Hyderabad, Sukkur and Guddu. • Large thermal plants in Punjab have been installed art Rawalpindi, Lahore, Faislabad, Multan and Kot Addu. • In Balochistan, thermal power plants are at Quetta, Pasni and Hub.

16. Future Locations • There is no plan of building a conventional thermal power plant in Pakistan, as the thermal fuel is very expensive which results in unbearable production cost of electricity. • One non-conventional thermal power plant is being built in Thar, “coal gasification power plant” with the capacity of 100 mega watt. This power plant is going to be operational from 2013. • This power plant is being built in thar because there is a high amount of coal present over there which will be used to produce a gas which will be then burned to produce electricity .This power plant is experimental so if it is going to be successful then more such power plants with more capacity will be built. • Renowned nuclear scientist Dr. Samar Mubarakmand said. “A project has almost been finalized to produce electricity by utilizing Thar coal reserves, which are one of the five largest coal reserves in the world,”

17. Factors for the location for a thermal power plant • As the name implies the power plant is meant for generating power which obviously means that it will consume huge quantities of fuel. The exact quantity would depend on the size of the plant and its capacity but it is a general fact that ample quantities of fuel must be available either in the vicinity or it should be reasonably economical to transport the fuel till the power plant • Since most thermal power plants use coal (they can use other fuels as well) it must be ensured that sufficient coal is available round the clock. Just to give you a rough idea a power plant with 1000 MW capacity approximately would require more than ten thousand tons of coal per day hence the necessity for continuous supply and storage capability of coal in the power station.

18. Ash if the main byproduct of combustion and since the amount of coal used is huge, you can intuitively imagine the amount of ash generated and it is certainly in the region of thousand tons per day. Ash is much more difficult to handle as compared to coal since it comes out hot from the boiler and is very corrosive in nature. Disposing of such huge quantities of ash requires a large amount of empty space where it can be safely dumped. • There must be ample space for the storage of coal, disposal of ash, building of the power plant, residential colony of workers, markets and so forth. An approximate analysis suggests that for every MW of power generated there must be at least 3 acres of land available for the purpose

19. Hence the power plant site needs to have good amount of land and this land should have good bearing capacity in order to survive the static and dynamic loads during the operation of the plant. • As we saw in the previous article of this series, large amount of water is required for cooling purposes in the power plant hence it is better if such a source is available nearby in the form of rivers etc. • Apart from these major requirements there are also other requirements which are equally important such as the availability of skilled people to work for the plant and good transport facilities in the vicinity. • Hence we see that setting up a thermal power plant requires a lots of factors to be considered simultaneously.

20. Advantages of coal based thermal power plant • Can respond to rapidly changing loads without difficulty. • A portion of the steam generated can be used as a process steam in different industries • Steam engines and turbines can work under 25 % of overload continuously • Fuel is cheaper • Cheaper in production cost in comparison with that of diesel power stations.

21. Disadvantages of coal based thermal power plant • Maintenance and operating cost are high • Long time required for erection and putting into action • Large quantity of water required • Difficulty in coal handling • Unavailability of good quality of coal • Maximum of heat energy lost • Problem of ash removing