Plant Level Performance of Coal Fired Public Sector Thermal Power Generation in India

Satvir Singh

coal fired, performance, technical efficiency, Power.

The present paper attempts to measure the plant level performance of 75 coal fired public sector thermal power plants in India for the period 2014-15 to 2017-18 using non parametric approach, Data Envelope Analysis (DEA) with a single output i.e. Power generation and five inputs viz. installed capacity, planned maintenance, forced outages, auxiliary power consumption and specific coal consumption. The performance level of the plants in the study has been categorized into three main groups. The first group includes the plants which have unit efficiency on CRS, VRS and scale efficiency scores, the second group includes the plants with optimal VRS efficiency but lower scale efficiency, and third group includes the plants with less than unit VRS and scale efficiency. The study observed 7 to 8 plants in first group, 21 to 24 in second in second group, and rest in third group. The mean technical efficiency for the period under study varied from 66.1% to 100% under CRS, VRS and Scale efficiency. The study also revealed the differences in plant level performance both at operator and regional level. The mean technical efficiency has remained more or less same with minor fluctuations but the number of thermal power plants with technical efficiency above the mean technical efficiency shows an increasing trend.

Received: 05 Mar 2022, Received in revised form: 09 Apr 2022, Accepted: 20 Apr 2022, Available online: 30 Apr 2022

10.22161/ijaers.94.41