The scope for the aspiring power plant engineers in Power Sector especially for freshers

1. Career Opportunities in Power
Plant Engineering
by
Dr. S Selvam, Director
National Power Training Institute (SR)
Neyveli

2. What makes a Power Plant important?
• Power Industry is the mother of all Industry
• More than 60% power is generated from
Fossil Fuel
• Huge capital Industry (approx. 4 Crores/
MW)
• Vast allied Sectors
• HT Power Transmission / TRANCOS
• Transmission & Distribution / DISCOM
• Design & Manufacturing of Mechanical and
Electrical Equipment
• Complex Maintenance of Heavy Equipment

3. • Huge growth opportunities to grow from a
Graduate Engineering Trainee to CMD/ GM/
President of Power corporation with very
good remuneration
• Better switch over opportunities and options
to work for +5/10 years after attaining normal
superannuation
• Great Technical Challenges in job and
opportunity to cross continents through MNCs
or big corporations
• Wider Technical platform to share experiences
and attending Technical meets.
What makes a Power Plant important?

4. What makes a Power Plant important?
• A Power Plant has all ingredients of
Mechanical, Electrical, Electronics,
Instrumentation and Computer
applications with its huge
infrastructure and exposures
And at last
A Power Engineer is a
composite Engineer with
Mechanical, Electrical & Electronics
process knowledge with a golden
touch of technical leadership
qualities.

5. Basic requirements
• With a view to build adequate technical capacity and
develop economically viable Energy sector and energy
efficient systems and compliance of laudable objectives
of the GoI, adequate scientific and technical manpower
at all levels is a pre-requisite.
• As per Indian Electricity Act any person to work in
power plant of capacity above 100 MW is to be trained
for a minimum of 52 week period from a Central
Electricity Authority (CEA)recognised Institute.
• Have to undergo onsite training and maintenance in
Thermal Power Plants and training in Thermal Power
simulator training of 220 MW or above for 2 weeks

6. The real Challenges for Power Plant Engineer
• Safety norms to be followed by individual and all co-workers during
the entire service period
• Ready to work in site (usually far away from urban areas)
• Ready to work day-night shifts
• Have to go through tough learning and adaptation in the initial period

7. Power Scenario India
REUTERS/SHAILESH ANDRADE
Heavy demand.
RACING AHEAD
India is now the world’s third-largest electricity producer
By Sushma U NMarch 26, 2018 Courtesy Quartz

8. Power Scenario Indications
• Power Industry is the mother of all Industry. Once it was the basic
need of for lighting and comforts with equipment and machinery
• Now it is measured on the Lavish usage of equipment , Lighting and
economy as a whole.
• Power plants with installed capacity (for India it is about 3.7 GW as on
date). The growth after independence is from 1362 MW to 3.7 GW.
• Per capita Power Consumption (from 16 KWh (units) to 1181 KWh as
on date). Still 1181 KWh is lower than many nations. Hence it is likely
to increase every year.
• Growth of Economy with Industry, Automation and life style (in per
capita consumption. )

13. Types of Power Sources
* Renewable Resources are resources that either
never run out like wind and solar energies, or able
to be replaced like corn for fuel and trees for
building materials

14. Renewable resources

21. • The utility electricity sector in India has one National Grid with an
installed capacity of 350.162 GW as on 28 February 2019.
• Renewable power plants constituted 21.8% of total installed capacity.
• During the fiscal year 2017-18, the gross electricity generated by
utilities in India was 1,303.49 TWh and the total electricity generation
(utilities and non utilities) in the country was 1,486.5 TWh.
• The gross electricity consumption was 1,181 kWh per capita in the
year 2018-19 which was 1149 KWh per capita in 2017-18
• India is the world's third largest producer and third largest consumer
of electricity.
• Electric energy consumption in agriculture was recorded highest (17.89%) in
2015-16 among all countries. The per capita electricity consumption is low
compared to many countries despite cheaper electricity tariff in India.

22. • India has surplus power generation capacity but lacks adequate
infrastructure for supplying electricity to all needy people. In order
to address the lack of adequate electricity supply to all the people
in the country by March 2019, the GoI launched a scheme called
"Power for All".
• This scheme will ensure continuous and uninterrupted electricity
supply to all households, industries and commercial
establishments by creating and improving necessary infrastructure.
It is a joint collaboration of the GoI with states to share funding
and create overall economic growth.

24. • India's electricity sector is dominated by fossil fuels, and in
particular coal, which in 2017-18 produced about three fourths of
all electricity.
• However, the government is pushing for an increased investment in
renewable energy.
• The National Electricity Plan of 2018 prepared by the Government
of India states that the country does not need additional non-
renewable power plants in the utility sector until 2027, with the
commissioning of 50,025 MW coal-based power plants under
construction and achieving 275,000 MW total installed renewable
power capacity after retirement of nearly 48,000 MW old coal fired
plants.

25. The Players :-
Central NTPC,
NHPD, NEEPCO,
NJPC,DVC,NLC,
NPCL etc
State
State Power
Genco
Private
Reliance, Adani,
LANCO

26. Cost of Renewable and non renewable energy at a glance

27. Courtesy : IEMR

28. By that way for 3.7 GW, the
man power requirement in
power sector is 3,70,000 and
is to grow. And the overall
Manpower is 5 times of this
and clearly indicating the
power sector’s vital role
* 1 Man/ MW is assumed

29. A scholarly article on Man Power Requirement in Power Sector in “ POWER LINE” , March 2020
The Indian economy is one of the fastest growing economies of the world, as a
result of which the demand for skilled workforce in various sectors in India is
growing at a tremendous rate. India currently faces a severe shortage of well-
trained, skilled workers.

30. The government estimates that only 2.3 per cent of the workforce in India has
undergone formal skill training as compared to 68 per cent in the UK, 75 per cent in
Germany, 52 per cent in the US, 80 per cent in Japan, and 96 per cent in South Korea.
Large sections of the workforce have little or no job skills, making them largely
unemployable.
Therefore, India must focus on scaling up skill training efforts to meet the demands
of employers and drive economic growth. As per the framework of implementation
of the National Mission for Skill Development, India is one of the youngest nations in
the world, with more than 54 per cent of the total population below 25 years of age
and over 62 per cent of the population in the working age group (15-59 years). The
country’s population pyramid is expected to expand across the age group of 15-59
years over the next decade. This demographic advantage is predicted to last only
until 2040. India, therefore, has a very narrow time frame to harness its
demographic dividend and overcome its skill shortages.

31. Power sector skill gap
The power sector in India, in particular, faces an immense shortage of workers with adequate
competencies, especially given the huge planned addition in the power generation, transmission and
distribution capacity.
Furthermore, there is a thrust by the Government of India to deploy 175 GW of renewable energy
generation capacity by 2022. In view of the above, the power sector is projected to need more than 2
million additional skilled technical workers by 2022.
This will only be possible if adequate number of trained and certified skilled workers are available in the
entire value chain from generation to servicing the last-mile consumer.
This skill gap pervades even the power sector.
Anticipating this, the government set up several councils/institutes to help with the required capacity
building and training. The Power Sector Skill Council (PSSC) is one of the 40 skill councils set up by the
National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), which is under the Ministry of Skill Development and
Entrepreneurship (MSDE)

32. The National Power Training Institute (NPTI), Power Systems Training Institute (PSTI), has been conducting
high quality training courses in various facets of power systems since 1972.
Today, NPTI is the world’s leading integrated power training institute with its headquarters in Faridabad, and
operates through its institutes in various power zones of the country, viz., New Delhi, Durgapur, Nagpur,
Neyveli, Bangalore, Nangal, Guwahati, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh. Full-time post graduate diploma courses
are offered in transmission and distribution systems. Admission to these is open to full-time B. Tech./B.E.
graduates or those with an equivalent in electrical and electronics. Participants are selected through merit,
for which advertisements are published in leading national newspapers.
NPTI also conducts long-term (26 weeks) training programmes on transmission and distribution systems,
and short-term training programmes on power systems and related areas. Tailor-made programmes for
various central/state public sector and private sector organisations in the power sector are also organised.
REC Institute of Power Management and Training (RECIPMT) is another training institute in Hyderabad,
established in 1979 under the aegis of Rural Electrification Corporation Limited (REC).

36. The Challenges (in Non renewable)
• Cost per MW of Nuclear, Hydro, Thermal power plant is
high.
• Commissioning period of Nuclear, Hydro & Thermal are
more
• Service life of Hydro – 40- 50 years
• Life of Thermal plant – 25-35 years
• Life of Nuclear plant ------- ????? till accident
In Renewable
Especially Wind and Solar plant can be brought into
operation within a year.

37. The Common Challenges
• Transmission lines capacity addition
• T&D Losses
• Power Purchase agreements and competitive bidding for
selling off Electricity
• Lowering of Peak Load
• Decrease in PLF
• Low Electricity Bill Charges. Regulatory authorities can not
increase the price / Unit in state and country

42. • EIA's recently released International Energy Outlook 2013 (IEO2013) projects that world energy consumption
will grow by 56% between 2010 and 2040, from 524 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) to 820 quadrillion
Btu. Most of this growth will come from non-OECD (non-Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development) countries, where demand is driven by strong economic growth.
• Renewable energy and nuclear power are the world's fastest-growing energy sources, each increasing 2.5%
per year. However, fossil fuels continue to supply nearly 80% of world energy use through 2040. Natural gas
is the fastest-growing fossil fuel, as global supplies of tight gas, shale gas, and coalbed methane increase.
• The industrial sector continues to account for the largest share of delivered energy consumption and is
projected to consume more than half of global delivered energy in 2040. Based on current policies and
regulations governing fossil fuel use, global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions are projected to rise to
45 billion metric tons in 2040, a 46% increase from 2010. Economic growth in developing nations, fueled by
a continued reliance on fossil fuels, accounts for most of the emissions increases.
• See the full IEO2013 for discussion on many other topics including
• Effects of recovery from the global economic recession
• Additions in net electricity generation
• Rising global natural gas production
• Trends in global liquid fuels production and use
• Higher coal consumption in the near term
EIA – Energy Information Association.