Friends, today in this article we will know about the factors affecting the production cost, I am going to give information about all these in a very good way. So let’s start.
The total cost of the electric power plant depends on the following factors-
- Location of the Plant – The total cost of the electric power plant depends on the location of the plant. The thermal power system should be located near the coal mines so that coal can be made available at a low cost. Similarly, hydroelectric power plants should be installed where there is sufficient water available such as near big rivers and nuclear power plants should be installed where there are no hydroelectric power plants and thermal power plants.
- Time Elapsed in Construction – The construction work of the power plant should take less time and should be done efficiently. Taking more time in construction work affects the cost.
- Distance from Load Centre- The electric generating station should be located near the load centre so that the expenditure due to copper losses in electric power transmission is reduced. This factor is more important in DC transmission system because in case of DC transmission the generating voltage is limited to 33kV, due to this, for the same power transmission, when the line current increases, the IL.R also increases.
- Size of Units– The size of the units of the power plant should be normal. According to the generating power, the per unit generation determines the cost.
- Simple Design- The design of the power plant should be simple. For this, the layout of the plant should be such that the maintenance and repair of the equipment installed in the plant can be done in minimum time. Also, the structure of the plant should be compact, well planned and appropriate so that the plant can be installed in minimum space. The equipment used in the power station should be durable and efficient so that its running and maintenance cost is reduced and it can be easily replaced.
- Organization – The number of high-paid employees in the rated management committee for the structure of the plant should be limited so that unnecessary overcharges can be avoided.
- Use of High Efficiency Equipment – The efficiency of the equipment used in the plant should be high so that frequent maintenance expenses can be avoided when the equipment breaks down.
- Sub-division of Plant – The equipment and tools used in the plant should be divided into different sub-stations so that complete shut-down can be avoided at the time of emergency or maintenance, such as single steam turbine per generator set or single water turbine per generator set, etc.
- Labor Saving Equipments – The equipment and machines installed in the plant should have hand operation as well as self operation as per the requirement so that savings can be made by reducing the number of labor for operation of the equipment.
- Future Extension – While designing the entire plant at present, future extension should be included in it so that the capacity of the plant can be increased according to the load at a low cost because construction of a new plant costs more.
- Cold Reserve Capacity – Cold reserve in a power system is the reserve capacity that is available for service, but is normally not ready for immediate loading. A cold reserve is secured by special reserve units with short start-up and spin up time. The duration of cold reserve start-up ranges from 2 to 24 hours or more. Units with short start up time usually have power on reserve.
- Hot Reserve Capacity- Hot reserve in a power system is the reserve capacity that can be made available quickly. For example, there is a hydroelectric generator of 100 MVA rating but its current supply is 70 MVA. It has 30 MVA hot reserve which can be loaded instantly by simply opening the valve in the hydro turbine.
- Spinning Reserve Capacity– Spinning reserve of active capacity is reserved for capacity located in operating units and units with a start-up time of 5 minutes. Thus a fast start reserve is also a spinning reserve.
What did you learn today:-
Now you must have known the factors affecting the production cost. You must have got the answer to all these questions well.
I hope you liked the information given by me, if you have any question / suggestion in your mind, then you can tell me by commenting below, I will definitely answer your comment. If you liked this post, then you can also share it with your friends and relatives.