Factors of thermal power station

There are factors of thermal power station:

Availability of coal

• The hung amount of coal is required for generation of electrical energy.
• Thermal power station should be located near the coal mines so that transportation cost of fuel is minimum.

Availability of water

• The huge amount of water is required for the condenser and conversion into steam for steam turbine.therefore thermal power station should be located at the bank of river or near a canal so as to have continuous water supply.

Transportation facilities

• Power station should have the transportation facility such as road and rail for transportation of material and machinery.

Land requirement

• The average land required In 3 to 4 hectares per MW capacity.
• The cost of land adds to total cost of the power station and therefore it should be available at a cheap rate which means it should be away from heart of the city the selected site should have good bearing capacity.

Near to load center

• Power station should be located near to load centre to minimize the transmission cost of electrical energy.

Away from populated area

• Steam power plant produces smoke and fumes by burning of huge amount of coal this pollutes the atmosphere hence plant should be located at considerable distance from populated area.

Ash disposal facilities

• Ash produced after burning of coal is about 20% to 40% of the weight of i.e. 1500 to 2000 tonnes per day thus it becomes a more serious problem as it comes out in hot condition and is highly corrosive.
• Therefore there must be sufficient space available for disposal of large quantity of ash.
• The ash from the power plant is used for many industrial process therefore disposal problems does not arise.