Power outages: Water disruption major cause, says World Resources Institute

WRI study says top 20 Indian power companies lost $1.4 billion in revenue in three years

Fourteen of India’s top 20 largest thermal power utility companies have experienced water shortage-related disruptions at least once between 2013 and 2016, losing more than $1.4 billion in total potential revenue, according to a report released by World Resources Institute (WRI).

Water consumption from India’s thermal power generation rose steadily every year between 2011 and 2016, but would stay below its 2016 level by 2027 if the country’s ambitious renewable goals are successfully achieved and the notified stringent water regulations implemented, the study said. India plans to achieve 175 gigawatt (Gw) of installed renewable power capacity by 2022.  

The WRI report recommended that the Union government should mandate that power plants monitor and disclose water withdrawal and discharge data, create guidelines, and policy incentives to drive better performance in managing water use and risks, and prioritise solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind projects whenever possible. 

More than 80 per cent of India’s electricity is generated from thermal (fossil fuel, biomass, nuclear, and concentrated solar) power plants (CEA 2017) of which 90 per cent reply on freshwater for cooling. Another 10 per cent of electricity is generated from hydroelectric plants, which depend on water completely. 

In 2016, thermal (fossil and nuclear) electricity accounted for more than 83 per cent of India’s total utility power generation (CEA 2017). More than 80 per cent of the total thermal generation was cooled by freshwater recirculating systems. Freshwater once through systems are the second-most common cooling technology in India, accounting for about seven per cent of total thermal generation in 2016. Freshwater consumption from Indian thermal utilities increased by 43 per cent from 2011 to 2016, while withdrawals stayed fairly stable. 

India lost about 14 terawatt-hours of thermal power generation due to water shortages in 2016, canceling out more than 20 per cent of growth in the country’s total electricity generation from 2015. Between 2013 and 2016, 61 per cent of the time programmed daily thermal generation targets couldn’t be met due to forced power plant outages, which included equipment failure, fuel shortages, water shortages, and other factors. 

Based on the Daily Outage Reports of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), between 2013 and 2016, water shortage is the fifth-most common reason for forced outages of Indian thermal power plants and caused almost two per cent of all outages in terms of potential generation. Among all of India’s freshwater-cooled thermal utilities, 39 per cent of the capacity is installed in high water-stress regions. That capacity generated 34 per cent of the total freshwater-cooled thermal power generation in 2016. Water stress is the ratio of total water withdrawal over available supply. 

High water stress indicates a high level of competition in water use. Freshwater-cooled thermal power plants that are located in high water-stress areas have a 21 per cent lower average capacity factor, compared to the ones in low and medium water-stress areas. Among India’s 19 ultra large freshwater-cooled plants (with an installed capacity over two Gw), 16 are located in low-and medium water-stress regions.