India’s First Super Critical Plant

Adani power had recently synchronised India’s first super critical power plant with a capacity of
660 MW. This is the world’s first supercritical technology based project to be certified for carbon
credit under United Nation’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The project
faced insurmountable challenges due to a major earth quake in China which impacted suppliers’
facilities. Despite all hurdles the project was completed within 36 months.

Synchronisation of 660 MW unit:

Adani Power (APL), a power business arm of Adani Group has recently synchronised country’s
first supercritical unit of 660 megawatt (MW) at Mundra in Kutch district of Gujarat. With
synchronisation of this unit APL’s coal fired thermal generation capacity stands at 1980 MW,
making Adani Power the third largest power generating company in private sector today. This 660
MW unit has a unique distinction. It is the world’s first supercritical technology based project to be
certified for carbon credit under United Nation’s Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC).
Gautam Adani, Chairman and Founder, Adani Group, spoke during the launch, “This is not only
the first super-critical turbine in the country but what makes it special is that this has been
synchronised within 36 months from the inception, which is the fastest implementation ever by
any power developer in the country.” The company has entered into long term power purchase
agreements (PPA) with various state electricity utilities for supplying 7,144 MW of power which
include Gujarat (2,000 MW), Haryana (1,424 MW) Maharashtra (2,520) MW and Rajasthan
(1,200 MW).

Project details:

APL is setting up 4620 MW coal fired power plant at Mundra, consisting of four units of 330 MW
and five units of 660 MW, the 660 MW units are based on energy efficient and environment
friendly super critical technology. On completion of this power project in March 2012, Mundra
Power plant will become the largest coal fired station in India and one of the top five in the world.
The financial closure of the entire 4620 MW project at Mundra has already been achieved.
The company has made arrangements for evacuating power from the Mundra power station by
laying 400 kV Mundra to Dehgam transmission line in Gujarat covering 430 km length and ± 500
kV HVDC line from Mundra to Mohindergarh covering 1000 km length.
“I am pleased as we have successfully synchronized country’s first 660 MW super critical unit at
Mundra today. With this historic step, we have achieved an important milestone for our power
business. The supercritical technology will make our operation efficient and in turn preserve
environment. We are expecting that the subsequent units will be in operation in rapid
succession,” said Adani.

Adani had lately focused on its power business and they hope to achieve generation capacity of
more than 16,000 MW by end of 2015. Their power projects at Mundra (4,620-MW), Tiroda
(3,300-MW), Kawai (1,320-MW), Dahej (2,640-MW), Bhadreshwar (3,300-MW) and Chhindwara
(1,320-MW) are moving as per schedule.
Challenges faced:

The project faced enormous challenges right from the beginning. The company has outsourced
most of its equipments from Chinese suppliers, who assure delivery of the equipment within a
fraction of time, which Indian suppliers normally take to deliver. A massive earthquake erupted in
China and this affected most of the supplier’s facilities. They were not able to deliver as per their
scedule. The event was beyond the control of the management of the company. Inspite of the
delay, the project could be completed in a record 36 months.

Adani commented on the challenges while addressing media, “Our project management skills
and abilities have been tested fully because this implementation record has been achieved
despite the project facing disruptions due to major earth quake in China which impacted our
suppliers’ facilities as also Chinese employment visa issues.”

Why a supercritical power plant?

To increase the efficiency of steam power plants the basic method is to improve the thermal
efficiency by increasing the operating pressure. If the pressure of water is 200 bar then the boiling
takes place at 366 deg C and the latent heat of vaporisation is 584 kJ/kg. As the pressure
increases the boiling temperature increases and the latent heat of vaporisation decreases.
A further increase in pressure and temperature leads us to a point at which the latent heat of
vaporisation is zero, or there is no boiling. Water directly becomes steam. This is the critical
pressure and the critical temperature. For steam this occurs at 374 deg C and 220.6 bar.
Conventional steam power plants operate at a steam pressures in the range of 170 bar. These
are sub-critical power plants. The new generation of power plants operate at pressures higher
than the critical pressure. These are super-critical power plants. The operating pressures are in
the range of 230 to 265 bar.

Supercritical Power plants operate at temperatures resulting in higher efficiencies – up to 46 per

cent for supercritical plants – and lower emissions than traditional (sub-critical) coal-fired plants.
The efficiency of the thermodynamic process of a coal-fired power describes how much of the
energy that is fed into the cycle is converted into electrical energy. The greater the output of
electrical energy for a given amount of energy input, the higher the efficiency.
A supercritical power plant uses a boiler/turbine system that operates at 1075oF; sub critical
plants operate at 850 oF. A supercritical plant is much more efficient than a sub critical plant,
producing more from the less coal and with lower emissions.

Benefits of advanced supercritical power plants include:

• Reduced fuel costs due to improved plant efficiency

• Significant reduction in CO2 emissions
• Excellent availability, comparable with that of an existing sub-critical plant
• Plant costs comparable with sub-critical technology and less than other clean coal
technologies
• Much reduced NOx, SOx and particulate emissions
• Compatible with biomass co-firing
• Can be fully integrated with appropriate CO2 capture technology