UNIT 305 - OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

NTPC – NATIONAL THERMAL POWER CORPORATION

LECTURER: DR. TONY JEWELS

SUBMISSION DATE: 07.02.2013

LOCATION: ABU DHABI, UAE

STUDENT NAME: - AHMED ALI

STUDENT ID: - 868612

Table of Contents
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

A thermal power plant is generally a steam driven power plant. The force that spins the
turbines in the plant is steam that is either used to drive an electric generator or any other
work that requires power.
There are variations in the functioning of different types of thermal power plants which
mostly depends of the kind of fuel used. The most frequently used fuel for thermal power
plants in India is coal.
About 70% of the electricity consumed in India is generated through thermal power plants.
India is home to numerous thermal power plants which are renowned all over the world.
Most thermal stations use coal as the main fuel. Raw coal from coal mines is transported to a
power station site by trucks, barges, bulk cargo ships or railway cars. The coal received at site
may be of different sizes. The coal is generally conveyed to crushers which crush the coal to
about 3⁄4 inches (19 mm) size. The crushed coal is then sent by belt conveyors to a storage
pile. Normally, the crushed coal is compacted by bulldozers, as compacting of highly volatile
coal avoids spontaneous ignition.

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INTRODUCTION
The Kayamkulam Thermal Power Plant in Kerala is a valuable gift of the National Thermal
Power Corporation (NTPC) to India's power sector. The naphtha-based Kayamkulam
Combined Cycle Project is also a precious presentation of NTPC to Kerala which frequently
faces power shortages.
This 350 MW plant is the 17th project and the first naphtha-based plant of NTPC. Its first
phase of 115 MW gas turbine was commissioned by the Prime Minister Shri Atal Behari
Vajpayee on January 17, 1999.
Nature has blessed Kerala with plentiful rainfall. But the electricity generated from the
hydro-electric projects in the State is insufficient to cope with the demands of the 54 lakh
consumers. The Kayamkulam power plant is expected to largely solve the power shortage in
the State.

Naturally, Kerala is the major beneficiary of Kayamkulam Thermal Power Plant. The entire
electricity generated from the first phase will be supplied to the Kerala State Electricity Board
(KSEB).
Apart from power generation, NTPC has already ventured into consultancy, power trading,
ash utilization and coal mining.

NTPC has been operating its plants at high efficiency levels. Although the company has
17.75% of the total national capacity, it contributes 27.40% of total power generation due to
its focus on high efficiency.

2.1 Mission and Vision

Mission: “Develop and provide reliable power, related products and services at competitive
prices, integrating multiple energy sources with innovative and eco-friendly technologies and
contribute to society.”

Vision: “To be a world – class Power Plant, having most efficient, reliable & eco-friendly
operations and generating uninterrupted power.”

2.2 Objectives of the Study

The main objective is to analyze the operational management of a thermal power plant.

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Specific Objective:

- To present a scenario of key concept relating problems.

- To study the problems and its prospects.

OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY

3.1 Key concept of topic

Problems and prospects related to operation management of power generation of NTPC. The
major key concepts are Problems and prospects.

3.2 Definition of Operation

Operations form the base of every organization, whether in manufacturing, service or non-
profit industries. Operations transform resource or data inputs into desired goods, services, or
results, and create and deliver value to the customers. Operations Management & Logistics is

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a multidisciplinary field that comprises disciplines such as product development, quality

management, logistics, information systems and human resource management.

3.3 Importance of operation management

Operations management specifically refers to the complex set of management activities
involved in planning, organizing, leading, and controlling an organization’s operations.
Operations management is also considered the backwater of management activities

Operations management is important to an organization’s managers for at least two reasons.

First, it can improve productivity, which improves an organization’s financial health. Second,
it can help organizations meet customers’ competitive priorities.

Productivity, the ratio of output to input, is a measure of an employee’s efficiency in using the
organization’s scarce resources to produce goods and services. The higher the numerical
value of this ratio, the greater the efficiency.

A total Quality approach to operations improvement:

The quality movement, with such approaches as small scale continuous improvement
processes and the large scale radical redesign of processes, is directly affecting productivity
and measures of efficiency.

3.4 Operation Objectives

The overall objective of the operations subsystem is to provide conversion capabilities for
meeting the organization’s goals and strategy. The sub-goals of the operations system specify
the following:

1. Product/service characteristics.

2. Process characteristics.

3. Product/service quality.

4. Efficiency

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 Effective employee relations and cost control of labour.

 Cost control of material.

 Cost control in facility utilization.

5. Customer service (schedule)

 Producing quantities to meet expected demand.

 Meeting the required delivery date for goods or services.

6. Adaptability for future survival.

3.5 Power Generation and Operations

Presently, NTPC generates power from Coal and Gas. With an installed capacity of 40,674
MW, NTPC is the largest power generating major in the country. It has also diversified into
hydro power, coal mining, power equipment manufacturing, oil & gas exploration, power
trading & distribution.

NTPC has been operating its plants at high efficiency levels.

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3.6 Power generation scenario in India

Coal is the major fossil fuel for power generation in India and all utility boilers use the
pulverized firing system for combustion of coal. Indian coal contains a high ash content of
around 35-42 per cent with average calorific value of 4000 kcal/kg and average sulphur
content of 0.35 per cent.

The installed capacity of power generation based on fossil fuels is as follows: coal 61012
MW (63 per cent) and gas/naphtha 7804 MW (nine per cent). The percentage share of
hydropower generation is about 25 per cent (21658 MW). In future, it is projected that coal
will continue as the main fuel for power generation in the country. Natural gas contains 85
per cent of methane and other higher hydrocarbons. Natural gas has Hydrogen Sulphide
(H2S) ranging from 0 to 0.5 per cent and nitrogen content is also low (0.1-0.5 per cent). The
average sulphur content in naphtha is 0.017 per cent. Therefore, SO2 pollution from gas-
based or naphtha-based thermal power plants (TPPs) may not be having any significant

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impact. It is imperative to maintain a balance between the increasing demands for electric
power and acceptable environmental quality which implies a need for the continual up
gradation of pollution control and improvement of environmental management system.
(Mohan, 2009)

KEY FACTORS IN OPERATIONS

An organization designs a system to deal with the opportunities and challenges that is capable
of producing quality services and goods in demanded quantities in acceptable time frames.

4.1 Activities
Operations Management has become a necessary subject in business management studies as
this provides essential tools for the smooth, efficient and effective business operations which
in turn lead to higher productivity and profits

The operations management system consists of five basic elements:

Input, transformation subsystem, output, control subsystem and Feedback.

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In an oil refinery the inputs are crude oil, labor and processing plants and the output is
petroleum products like gasoline, diesel etc. The transformation process consists of heating,
mixing and distillation; feedback is production rates, expenses; and the control elements are
plant managers, accountants, supervisors etc.

Operations management involves the management of human, technology and system

resources. The operations management functions, like in other management disciplines,
include planning, directing, organizing, staffing, motivating and controlling to achieve the set
organizational goals.

4.2 Lay out design & Facility location

The facility location activity involves the decision of the location for the facility,
manufacturing unit or service outfit, geographically. The layout design determines how the
internal facilities (departments, equipments, service stations, workstations etc) will be
arranged. Material handling is a prime consideration in the designing new plant and several
existing plants.

4.3 Job design

The job design activity involves the structuring of work tasks assigned to an employee and
the study of the tasks that make up the job. The job design and work measurement activities
are carried out to optimize output. Design of the production processes, type of processed
sign, and investment and economic analysis also studied to achieve maximum productivity.

4.4 Demand forecasting

Organizations need to forecast the demand for their products and services so that all relevant
plans can be developed for the future. Operation managers need to analyze the future
demand accurately as possible as this will influence not only the requirement of manpower
resources but also the utilization of working capital. Various types of quantitative and non-
quantitative forecasting techniques are used in operation management. Demand forecasting is
useful for the firm to acquire the right quantum of inventory at the right point of time, to meet
the needs of the production same time without unnecessarily locking up the finances of the
firm in inventory accumulation. (Richard, 2007, p. 288)

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4.5 Planning and controlling operations

Planning is the most important function performed by an operations Dept. Main functions of
production planning and control include Planning, Routing, Scheduling, Dispatching and
Follow-up. Planning may be long range (strategic), short range (operational) or medium
range (tactical). Aggregate plans define how the resources can be best employed to meet
market demand for the given products.

4.6 Materials management

The materials management activity involves the grouping of management functions
supporting materials flow. The main objective is to minimize material cost and to trace new
sources of supply and to develop cordial relations with them in order to ensure Continuous
supply at reasonable rates. Materials management includes activities starting from purchase
and internal control of production materials, the planning and control of unfinished products
in process at various stages of production and the warehousing, shipping and distribution of
the finished product.

 Inventory management and control: - The inventory management activity is

concerned with the planning and control of inventories of raw materials, consumables,
work in progress materials, other economic resources and finished goods. This
reduces the investment tied in the inventories for use in other productive purposes and
to develop high inventory turnover ratios.

 Purchase management: - This function is a subsystem of the materials management

and is of special importance in a typical manufacturing firm where 50-60% of the
total costs is made up of purchases. Purchase management functions include vendor
development, selection of suppliers, contract negotiation, value analysis, make or buy
decisions and maintaining the high ethics.

4.7 Total Quality Management

This is a management concept that focuses the collective efforts of all managers and
employees on satisfying customer expectations by continually improving operation
management processes and products.

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4.8 Supply chain management

Supply chain can be described as the network covering the various stages in the provision of
products or services to the customers. Supply chain management integrates procurement,
operations and logistics to provide value added products or services. Effective management
of the supply chain enables organizations to meet customer requirements in time with
improved facility utilization, optimal inventory etc.

4.9 Maintenance management

The objective of maintenance management is to ensure that the systems are working at their
optimum efficiency and is essential to the organization for productivity, increase operational
life of equipments and keep safe working conditions. It is very important that the plant
machinery should be properly maintained. Maintenance management uses modern preventive
and predictive maintenance tools and monitoring techniques

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OPERATIONAL POLICIES
The operating organization should establish appropriate documented management programs.
For the purpose of this operational policies, a ‘management program’ consists of a systematic
application of planning schedules, procedures, reviews and audits supported by appropriate
resources to administer a specific management policy.

The areas to be covered by various management programs for the safe operation of plant
should include the following:

- staffing,

- qualification and training,

- commissioning,

- plant operation & maintenance,

- surveillance & in-service inspection,

- fuel management,

- operational analysis and review,

- radiation protection,

- industrial safety,

- waste management and environmental monitoring,

- emergency & fire safety,

- quality assurance,

- feedback of operational experience,

- document control and records,

- management of ageing, and Decommissioning

These programs should be addressed to administrative as well as technical aspects of plant

operation and should cover all related activities.

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The relevant parts of these programs should be documented. It should be available

sufficiently in advance to allow the corresponding activities to be reviewed and assessed by
plant staff prior to implementation.

In order to ensure that adequate and appropriate practices are followed in implementing the
management programs, the operating organization should make arrangements for the
requisite information to be available from designers, manufacturers and other organizations.
Arrangements should also be made with other appropriate operating organizations in order to
benefit from their experience. (Barnes, 2000, pp. 76 – 79)

RENEWABLE ENERGY
Renewable energy (RE) is being perceived as an alternative source of energy for “Energy
Security”. Renewable energy technologies provide not only electricity but offer an
environmentally clean and low noise source of power.

NTPC plans to broad base generation mix by evaluating conventional and alternate sources of
energy to ensure long run competitiveness and mitigate fuel risks.

NTPC has formulated its business plan of capacity addition of about 1,000 MW through
renewable resources by 2017. In addition, capacity addition of 301 MW through Solar PV
and Thermal by 2014 has envisaged in line with National Solar Mission.

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ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS AND IMPACTS

Power generating units require not only huge capital investment but also various natural
resources like, fossil fuels and water thus create some impacts on the environment and
generate a stress in the local eco system. Although stringent norms have been made by the
regulatory agencies to control and mitigate the damages cost to the environment by the power
plants.

The external impacts pertaining to the air, water, noise and biological components of the
environment are briefed below.

1. Air Environment

 Coal based thermal power plants affect the air quality of the surrounding region more
than natural plants. Around the coal based plants the ambient sulphur dioxide
concentration was in the range of 20-25 pg/m3. Thus it can be inferred that people
living within 5 km radius of coal based power plant suffer from respiratory ailments.

 The emission levels depend on the standards specified by the concerned State
Pollution Control Board. The health effects attributable to NOx, the Principal
pollutant emitted from a natural gas plant even within a 2 km radius are negligible.

2. Water Environment

 The water requirement for a coal-based power plant is about 0.005-0.18 m3/kwh
while that for a natural gas plant is about 0.003 m3/kwh.The major part of treated
effluent is utilized for ash slurry preparation, while part of the ash pond overflow is
discharged into the river.

 The wastewater treatment facilities adopted by the thermal power plants are generally
sufficient to attain the standards stipulated by the concerned regulatory authority,
used in the cooling towers is generally disposed off at temperature 4-50 C above the
prevalent surface water temperature, which can harm the local aquatic biota. In order
to avoid such thermal pollution, the power plants dispose of the effluent by means of
a long and open channel, due to which the temperature of the effluent comes down to
the level of that of the surface water by the time it reaches the receiving body.

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Therefore, no loss of fisheries of other aquatic biota was observed due to thermal
pollution by power plants.

 Water slurry is used to take the ash from the power plant to the ash pond for disposal.
When such water mixes with a water body, it increases the turbidity of the water body
thereby decreasing the primary productivity. This is harmful to the fisheries and
other aquatic biota in the water body.

3. Noise Environment

 The exposure of employees to high noise levels is more in the coal based thermal
power than in the natural gas based or the hydroelectric plant. It has been observed
that based on the stipulated requirements of various environmental bodies, the power
plants have taken up sufficient measures like tree plantations to attenuate the noise
levels outside their premises. The increased transportation activities due to the
operation of the power plants have led to an increase in noise levels in the adjacent
localities.

4. Biological Environment

 The effect on biological environment can be divided into two parts, viz. the effect on
flora and the effect on fauna. Effect on flora is due to two main reasons land
acquisition and due to flue gas emissions. The effect of flue gas emissions on flora is
still being studied all over the world and only a limited amount of knowledge has
been acquired of the same. Therefore, it is quite difficult to ascertain and quantify the
impacts of such emissions on the flora.

7.1 Environment Policy & Environment Management System

NTPC has been at the forefront of Environment management. NTPC brought out a
comprehensive document entitled ‘NTPC Environment Policy and Environment Management
System In November 1995. Amongst the guiding principles adopted in the document are the
company's pro-active approach to environment, optimum utilization of equipment, adoption
of latest technologies and continual environment improvement. The policy also list efficient
utilization of resources, thereby minimizing waste, maximizing ash utilization and ensuring a
green belt all around the plant for maintaining ecological balance. (Frantz, 2006, p. 24)

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7.2 Pollution Control Systems

While deciding the appropriate technology for its projects, NTPC integrates many
environmental provisions into the plant design. In order to ensure that NTPC complies with
all the stipulated environment norms, following state-of-the-art pollution control systems /
devices have been installed to control air and water pollution:

 Electrostatic Precipitators

 Flue Gas Stacks

 Low-NOX Burners

 Neutralization Pits

 Coal Settling Pits / Oil Settling Pits

 DE & DS Systems Cooling Tower

 Ash Dykes & Ash Disposal Systems

 Ash Water Recycling System

 Dry Ash Extraction System (DAES)

 Liquid Waste Treatment Plants & Management System

 Sewage Treatment Plants & Facilities

 Environmental Institutional Set-up

Following are the additional measures taken by NTPC in the area of Environment
Management:

 Environment Management During Operation Phase

 Monitoring of Environmental Parameters

 On-Line Data Base Management

 Environment Review

 Up gradation & Retrofitting of Pollution Control Systems

 Resources Conservation

 Waste Management

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 Municipal Waste Management

 Hazardous Waste Management

 Bio-Medical Waste Management

 Land Use / Bio-diversity

 Reclamation of Abandoned Ash ponds

 Green Belts, Afforestation & Energy Plantations

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CONCLUSION
Thermal power plants have negative environmental impacts in the form of emissions
extending from particulates, noxious gases and waste heat to noise pollution. Diverse
measures such as appropriate sitting, the use of efficient, environment-friendly technologies
and the reduction of noxious emissions can substantially reduce such negative environmental
impact.

The primary objective in the erection of an environmentally compatible power plant must be
to reduce pollution of the environment. Regarding the limitation of particulate, SOx and NOx
emissions by thermal power plants, various well-proven commercial-scale techniques are
available.

Since, for economic reasons, many countries prefer to fuel their power plants with indigenous
coal characterized by high ballast and sulfur contents, special attention must be paid to
reducing both of those pollutants.

In assessing the environmental compatibility of a thermal power plant, proper monitoring is

extremely important, since the best of all emission-control measures can only be as efficient
as the attendant monitoring. One suitable approach would be to appoint one or more in-house
environmental protection officers.

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