• Kaustuv Das
• Raju Basak
• Debabrata Roy

India’s ambitious commitment under the Paris Agreement, as part of its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), targets 40% of total installed capacity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030. While renewable energy integration is essential for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, its large-scale introduction into the national grid—without carefully evaluating implications for system reliability—can disrupt optimal operation of conventional plants and increase overall generation costs. This paper proposes a systematic methodology to determine the optimum installed capacity of base load power plants by analyzing historical hourly demand patterns and the economics of coal, gas, and hydro generation. The method uses statistically derived minimum average hourly demand as the benchmark for base load sizing, adjusted for availability factors, to ensure thermal units operate at high plant load factors (PLFs) with improved efficiency and reduced emissions. The proposed framework is applied to 2018 demand data from a particular area, India, demonstrating that an optimal mix—leveraging coal for steady supply, hydro for variability management, and gas for operational flexibility—can significantly reduce costs while meeting environmental objectives. The approach supports strategic planning by linking cost, capacity, and environmental impact into a unified decision-making model.

Base load optimization, energy mix planning, coal, hydro, gas, environmental impact, generation cost.

"Integrated Planning of Base Load Energy Mix for Cost Optimization and Environmental Compliance: A Comprehensive Framework and Application to a particular area", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.12, Issue 8, page no.e502-e510, August-2025, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2508468.pdf

"Integrated Planning of Base Load Energy Mix for Cost Optimization and Environmental Compliance: A Comprehensive Framework and Application to a particular area", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.12, Issue 8, page no. ppe502-e510, August-2025, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2508468.pdf