Ensuring spinning reserve in generation deficient Indian power system

Power systems of many developing countries are facing sustained generation deficiency. India is not an exception to this. Due to generation shortage, Indian power system operates without spinning reserve as committing some of the available power generation units for spinning reserve is equivalent to loss of generation in power deficient scenario. In power system, spinning reserve is required for reliable system operation. Lack of spinning reserve makes Indian system more vulnerable to system disturbances. Indian National Electricity Policy talks about achieving 5% spinning reserve by 2012. Indian government is taking several measures to mitigate power generation deficiency scenario. But, India has repeatedly failed to meet the new generation capacity addition target set by Planning Commission in all the 5-Year Plans. It was possible to achieve only 53.8%, 47.5% and 51.76% of new capacity addition target during 8th, 9th and 10th 5-Year Plans respectively. This hints that spinning reserve may continue to remain non-existent in Indian power system operation. Even if India achieves the target, there is no mechanism to ensure sustained spinning reserve in the background of constant economic developments. In this paper a strategy has been proposed to ensure spinning reserve in power deficit scenario. It is proposed that uneconomical power plants with high fuel costs can be used as dedicated spinning reserve plants. A tariff mechanism has also been proposed to make spinning reserve plants economically viable.