American Economic Review Vol. 104 No. 5 2014

Why Are Power Plants in India Less Efficient than Power Plants in the United States?

H. Ron Chan¹; Maureen Cropper²; Kabir Malik³

¹ University of Maryland, 3114 Tydings Hall, College Park, MD 20742 (e-mail: ) · ² University of Maryland and Resources for the Future, 3114 Tydings Hall, College Park, MD 20742 (e-mail: ) · ³ World Bank, 1818 H Street, Washington, DC 20433 (e-mail: )

Abstract

India's coal-fired generating capacity doubled between 1990 and 2010 and currently accounts for 70 percent of electricity produced. Despite this, thermal efficiency at state-owned coal-fired power plants in India is significantly lower than at plants in the United States. When matched on age and capacity, heat input per kWh was 8 percent higher at Indian plants between 1997 and 2009. This can only partly be explained by the lower heat content of Indian coal. Electricity sector restructuring in the United States improved thermal efficiency at investor-owned plants; however, electricity sector restructuring in India has yet to improve thermal efficiency at state-owned coal-fired power plants.

DOI

10.1257/aer.104.5.586

Volume

104

Issue

5

Pages

586-590

Language

en

Sources

bibtex:phds-export.bib crossref openalex

Cite

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