Optimum Installed Capacity with Optimum Energy Mix for Base Load Power Plants considering Environment and Cost Aspects

This paper focuses mainly on computing the optimum installed capacity of base load power plants considering the average hourly demand over the months of the year and the cost of generation of each of the sources of base load power plants. To compute the optimum installed capacity of base load power plants, based on the past trends three cases have been considered - lowest out of minimum of average hourly demand, lowest out of average of the average hourly demand and highest out of minimum of average hourly demand.The approximate costs of generation of each of sources used for base load, i.e. coal, gas and hydro are calculated based on data taken from the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission regulations. The proposed methodology for installed capacity has been implemented on the average demand chart of state of Maharashtra, India for the year 2018. The energy mix for base load is suggested based on the installed capacity and the cost factor. This mitigates the environmental impact to a reasonable extent and simultaneously makes these plants operate at their optimal levels with increased plant load factor and reduced energy losses thus reducing the overall cost of generation.