Diesel Vs Electric

K . SIVAGURU 3RD YEAR ,E.E.E SRI RAM ENGG COLLEGE

Economies of TRACTION DIESEL VS ELECTRIC 

How Competitive are the Diesels ?

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Is there a need for further Electrification in Indian Railways ?

Railway Electrification is justified on various Grounds        

Modernization Energy Efficiency Depleting Oil Reserves Savings in Foreign Exchange Marginally Capital intensive, but much cheaper operationally More Economical Enables higher speeds and improved throughput Eco-friendly

Electric Traction - 1881

After many decades of satisfactory performance, the steam engines were to give way to more modern locomotives. The year 1881 saw the birth of the first electric Railway run by a German Engineer Werner Van Siemens using both the rails to carry the current. Finding this a little too dangerous, Siemens soon adopted the overhead electric wires. Electric locomotives today raun on Rail roads in many countries.

Diesel Traction - 1912

The diesel engine was invented in the year 1893, by a young German Engineer, called Rudolf Diesel. But it was only nineteen years later, that the first Diesel locomotive came into existence. Since then, diesel traction has grown from strength to strength. Over 89,000 Diesel locomotives have been built in the world so far, the General Motors, USA alone contributing to as many as 56,000 Locomotives.

Superior Technology - Diesel or Electric ? Diesel Traction is thus a far more recent technology, as compared to Electric traction. One reason why there are more diesels in the world than electric locos and why more and more are produced year after year. Railways in Europe and some other advanced countries had started Electrification many years before the modern Diesels came on the scene. In fact, Railways in modern economies like US, Australia, etc. including Suburban services.

are de-electrifying

Superior Technology -Diesel or Electric ? - (ii)

Diesel locomotive is in fact an Electric Locomotive carrying its own powerhouse. Today’s modern Diesel locomotives with 6 KMs of Electrical wiring is much more Electric than an Electric locomotive with 4 KMs of wire. Electric locomotive provides an easy means of drawing larger units of power from the OHE for the same axle load. Development of Technology for Low weight energy efficient engine and its controls delayed the advent of modern diesel locomotives.

Superior Technology - Diesel or Electric ? - (iii) Today, technological development in both tractions has levelled of. Diesel locos with Electric transmission have all the benefits of modern technology such as AC-AC transmission. And for the same weight, Diesel traction has 10% or higher load hauling capability. It is conceded that technology of high speed Passenger operation beyond 220 Kmph has advanced on Electric traction, but this is perhaps quite irrelevant to us today.

World Railways - Status of Electrification Railway

Percentage Electrified U.S.A. 0.9% Canada 0.1% Australia 9.6% China 15.6% France 44% India (BG) 44% Italy 59% Sweden 59% Austria 59% Amtrack (USA) 100%

Source : Rail Business Report, 1999

Electrification on IR It is often said that Electrification on IR is hardly 24.5% of total network. The truth is  Total Network includes BG, MG as well as NG and is 62759 KMs.  Actual BG Route Kilometers are 44383  BG Running Track KMs are 62441  Electrified Running Track KMs - 27946  which is 44.8% of BG Running Track KMs.

World’s Stock of Mainline Locomotives 86000 Diesel Locomotives

North America (26%)

Rest of the World (42%)

Europea n Union (13%) China (10%)

India Latin (5%) America (4%)

Population of Diesel Locos in the World is 3.2 times that of the Electric locomotives (Source: World Bank Railway Database 2000)

ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVES 27000 Electric Locomotives North America (0%)

Rest of the w orld (47%)

Europea n Union (32%)

China (`10%)

India (10%)

Latin Americ a (1%)

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Electrification on IR (ii)

Railway Electrification on the IR was taken up in a big way in the late 70s, as a knee jerk reaction to the 1974 oil crisis. Central Organisation for Railway Electrification (CORE) was created to speedily electrify the high density routes; this task has already been completed in the early 90s. While talking of 1980 Secretary’s report, we have blanked off Gujral Committee Recommendations and the falling crude prices in later years. It is felt that Electrification of Low density non-viable and uneconomic routes continues unabated, perhaps to sustain the organisation. Time has perhaps come, to pause and examine if the need for further electrification still persists.

Energy Efficiency

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Sometimes Electric traction is perceived as more energy efficient, by wrongly computing the efficiency from the Overhead wire, in stead of from the Primary Source of Energy, viz., Coal / Oil (used in producing electricity in power houses)

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The energy efficiency of Traction should however be calculated right from the Primary source of Power, taking into account, losses occurring at every stage.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Overall Efficiency

Fuel Theoretical efficiency of Diesel Cycle (for a volumetric compression ratio of 1:16) Boiler efficiency (in electric operation: efficiency of steam power plant) Indicated efficiency Mechanical efficiency of diesel engine (auxiliaries included) Efficiency of power transmission to axles Theoretical efficiency of cycle in electric operation Indicated efficiency and mechanical and electrical efficiency of the entire turbo-a.c. converter (auxiliaries included) 9. Efficiency of power transmission from power plant to substation 10. Efficiency of converter and of power transmission from substation input to current collector, return current losses included 11.Electro-mechanical efficiency of locomotive at the driving wheels, allowing for feed-water heating to 100 deg. C by exhaust stem.

Energy Efficiency (iii) Mmode of Traction

Pass – Pass – Goods Goods

Diesel Electric – Diesel – Electric

Energy consumed per 1000 GTKM (AUTHORITY: ASS 1999-2000) 4.82 20.6 2.96 8.28

Energy consumed in KCAL

Relative Energy Index

42252 66892 25948 26887

1.0 1.58 1.0 1.04

1 kg of HSD used in Diesel Traction = 10500 KCAL 1 KW H of Electricity requires = 2952 KCAL ALL India Average Heat Rate in KCAL / KW H

AUTHORITY : CEA Figures The table proves that Electric traction as energy efficient is a myth

Availability of Oil (Reserves) Will there be any Oil after 30 years ? ? ?  

Ever since Col. Blake discovered oil in 1857, this is the usual pessimistic refrain that we hear. Arthur Anderson/Cambridge Energy Research Associates reports: In 1970, the reserves were estimated to last 33.78 years In 1980, the estimate was 33 years despite increase in consumption by 30% In 1999, oil reserves were estimate to last 43 years despite increase in consumption by 43%

Oil in India 

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India is the least explored region for oil Well density per 100Sq.Km India 20 World 100 In 1998, prognosticated hydrocarbon reserves in India were as high as 17 Billion tonnes that can last for 400 years at the consumption rate of 46 Million tonnes per year during that year. India consumes 2% of World’s oil, while Indian Railway uses only 1.7% of India ‘s

Share of Railways in the consumption Others(7%) Power (4%)

Railways (1.7%) Domestic (7%) Industry (19.6%)

Road Transport (49.7%)

Fertilisers (9%) Plantation/ Food (2%)

Availability of Oil The Government is investing Rs.54 400 Crores in connecting the Golden Quadrilateral and diagonals by Super Highways. Almost every Automobile / Light Motor Vehicle Manufacturer continues to expand their production capacities.

Fuel Cells 

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A simple device uses Hydrogen from fuel combines with Oxygen and produces electricity. No noise, no smoke and no moving parts As per International Railway Journal of March 2000, Fuel Cell Trains shall be a reality by 2008. A breakthrough has already been achieved by BHEL, Hydrabad All Overhead wires will then become redundant !!! Diesel locos can be easily converted by replacing engine with fuel cell.

Bio - Diesels  

Renewable fuels from bio sources include   

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Ethanol Bio diesel Bio hydrogen Why Bio Biogases

diesel is important for?

Indian Rail has very large available land Bio diesel will help Railways to :    

Improve upon emission norms eventually reduce diesel cost redeploy surplus manpower contribute to environment protection

Importance of Bio diesel       

Environment friendly Clean burning Renewable fuel No engine modification Increase in engine life Biodegradable and non-toxic Bio diesel process at IOC EasyCatalyzed to handle transesterification and store Base of oil

Raw Materials Used Rice Bran Oil Sun flower oil Mohuva Oil Rapeseed oil Japtropha oil Karanjia Oil Scale : 100 g to 60 Kg batch

The Indian Scene

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Annual Growth rate -8% compared to world average of 2% Oil pool deficit & subsidies Rs.16,000 Crores, Rs.18,440 Crores (1996-97) Current per capital usage of petroleum is abysmally low (0.1 ton / year) against 4.0 in Germany or 1.5 tons in Malaysia Even Malaysia’s figure would be beyond our paying capacity Our domestic production would meet only 33% of demand at the end of 10th plan and only 27% by 2010-11 Investment in Biofuels make strong Economic sense.

Jatropha may be the Answer

According to the Economic Survey (1995-96), Govt. of India, of the cultivable land area about 100-150 million hectares are classified as waste or degraded land Jatropha (Jatropha curcas, Ratanjyot, wild castor) thrives on any type of soil Needs minimal inputs or management Has no insect, pests & not browsed by cattle or sheep Can survive long periods of drought Propagation is easy Yield from the 3rd year onwards and continues for 25-30 years 25% oil from seeds by expelling 30% by solvent extraction The meal after extraction an excellent organic manure (38% protein, N:P:K ration 2.7:1.2:1)

Photograph of Jatropha plant with seeds

EU Initiatives on Biofuels Regulatory package COM-2001 / 547 containing action plan and directives 20% alternate fuels for gasoline and diesel by 2020 Major options biofuels, natural gas and biohydrogen Biofuels minimum 5.75% in 2010 Member states can give tax benefits Bio fuels to include Bio diesel, Bio ethanol, ETBE, Biogas. Objectives :  Reduce dependency on imported oil  Greenhouse gas reduction (8% Kyoto) Bio diesel Potential – Indian  Support agricultural sector An estimate

Railways

Track length of 1,00,000 km  If 50% tract available and 50 meters of both sides  Approx. area 5000 sq..km  considering an yield of 2 tons / ha  Yield of oil crop 1 MMTPA  Approx. Bio diesel potential 200-250,000 tones i.e. about 10% of the Railways’ diesel requirements Indian Oil as Partner in technology development 

The Railway Minister said that Railway Ministry and Indian Oil Corporation signed a memorandum of understanding for a pilot project for production of eco-friendly biodiesel for the Railways. CourtesyTraction : The Hindu-What dt. 13th it Feb.2003 Electric costs the Nation ? All figures are in MUs (millions of units)

Total Demand of the Country Actual availability Shortfall Consumption of Railways in 2000-01 Avoidable Shortage inflicted by the Railways

507216 467400 26349 7308 27.7%

Source : Central Electrical Authority (Figures for 2000-01)

Electric Traction -What it costs the Nation ? (ii)

Total Shortfall in Peak Load Capacity * Requirement of Railways ** Avoidable Capacity constraints caused by the Railways

10457 MW 5500 MW 54.1%

* Source : Central Electrical Authority (Figures for 2000-01)

** Requirement as computed for 2800 Electric locos, assuming Loco Availability (85%), Load factor (60%) and T & D Losses (22%) etc.

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Every Diesel Loco of 4000 HP put on line adds to the Power Generation Capacity of the country by 3 MW Every Electric Loco of 6000 HP put on line   

Eats into the Power generation capacity by about 4 to 5 MW * Deprives 15000 Houses of Electric Power Adds to use of inefficient small DG sets by Industrial, Agricultural & Domestic sectors

* Taking into account the Locomotive, Transmission and Distribution Losses.

Electrify the Railways and Dieselise the Industry ?? 

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In a country where 14.7% villages are yet to be electrified, can we afford to electrify Railways ? The Energy Policy should ideally aim at replacing inefficient use of Fuel Electrification replaces a highly efficient Turbo charged Railway Diesel locomotive with small sized high inefficient gen-sets resulting in higher consumption of HSD and pollution.

Anticipated Drains from the Power production in future years, even with no further Electrification. Year 2001-02 2006-07 2011-12

Electric Energy required by IR (Million Units) 7713 9844 12564

Assuming a 5% Growth / annum in Freight and Passenger Traffic over the 10th and 11th Plans and with same share of Traffic between Diesel and Electric

Further Drain into the scarce Capital Resources At the end of Plan

X XI

Additional Generation Capacity required by IR (MW) 1520 1939

Capital Cost required for Locos / Power Plant / T & D Network Rs.12760 Cr. Rs.16112 Cr.

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Assuming a 5% growth / annum in Freight and Passenger Traffic over 10h and 11th Plans

Optimum Utilisation of Energy – Petroleum 

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There is a lot of reluctance in the States for establishing any new coal-based Power Plants in view of the serious limitations like poor quality of coal with high ash and sulphur content, pollution of ash and dust, high cost of developing new coal fields, extreme shortage of water, etc,. Most of the Power houses set up in the country in the last five years and those in the pipe line are based on Petroleum products such as LNG, Diesel, Naptha, etc.

Does Electrification save Foreign Exchange ?   

Electrification ends up draining the Foreign exchange, instead of saving it. The classic case is Ernakulam - Trivandrum Electrification at Minus 29% rate of return, tapping Power from a Diesel Power station of Nallalam. Capital investment in Power plants is mostly by way of imported equipment.

To Sum up, It is quite obvious that Electrification of Railways is leading to: Dieselisation of the Industry, Agriculture and Domestic Sector Increased Fossil Fuel Consumption and not Reduction Higher Outflow of Foreign Exchange and not savings for the Nation

Is Electric Traction only marginally Capital intensive ? The Nation pays dearly by spending our scarce Capital to create this vast infrastructure and to sustain it. On the Diesel traction, a modest engine is all that we require.

Power Requirement of a 5000 HP Electric Locomotive Equivalent MW Capacity (Let us assume that Plant and Loco Load factors cancel each other) Transmission Losses Generation Capacity required Current Cost of Power House / MW Cost of Distribution Network / MW Cost / MW of Power at the Loco Capital to be invested / loco Source :

3.75 MW

10% (National Average 22%) 3.75 / 0.9 = 4.2 MW Rs.4.25 Cr. ** Rs.4 Cr. Rs.8.25 Cr. 4.2 x 8.25 = Rs.34.65 Cr.

Data as published by CEA

Electric Traction is prohibitively Capital intensive (Rs. In Crores)

Loco Cost Cost of OHE per Loco Cost of Power House per Loco (refinery irrelevant) Cost of transmission / distribution system per loco Total Capital Cost

Diesel 3.66 -

Electric 3.79 3.25 17.85 16.80

3.66

41.69

Based on prices for the year 1999-2000 5 km of OHE per locomotive and Rs.65 lakhs /km

Traffic densities on Sections under Electrification are far less than 49.7 GMT (Break-even level)

Sections under Electrification recently

Lucknow – Kanpur Kharagpur – Bhubaneshvar Ludhiana – Amritsar Ambala – Saharanpur

14 26 29 27

GMT GMT GMT GMT

GMT of Non-electrified sections on All India basis GMT > 49.72 40.0 – 49.72 30.0 – 40.0 20.0 – 30.0 10.0 – 20.0 5.0 – 10.0 < 5.0

% of RKM Nil 1.6% 6.7% 11.1% 31.8% 24.0 % 24.8%

Justification for any more electrification thus does not appear to exist.

Railways have made no provision for energy meters in locomotives either to monitor the electric energy consumption or to work out the electricity consumed for electric traction of different classes of traffic. The apportionment of electricity consumed between goods and passenger services is being done on an estimated standard specific energy consumption (SEC) for passenger services. The SEC adopted was obviously erroneous. Sometimes, the adopted SEC for passenger traffic resulted in negative consumption for goods traffic. Electrification The figures, therefore, haveroutes no realistic of the main pickedbasis. up momentum in 1970s. By March 1999, 14,050 route kilometres were electrified at the cost of Rs.4,008.55 crores. It is imperative that a review is undertaken now for choice of traction with reference to the operational results of the electrification already done. Review by Audit of 2 electrified sections and a project completion report prepared by the World Bank in 1994 tend to indicate that the projected returns were significantly overstated and could not be achieved. Besides, the expected economy in cost of operation has not fructified having regard to the trend of international oil prices vis-à-vis the sharp rise in domestic electricity costs. Further in Indian conditions, uninterrupted electricity supply to Railways inevitably affects industry adversely. (Para 7)

Environment Issues 

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Contrary to popular perception, Electric traction is more polluting than Diesel traction. Power for Electric Loco comes from  

either Diesel based Power station with same level of pollution as Diesel loco Or from Coal based Thermal station whose “Green House” gases emission is 26% more than Diesel loco (UNDP Study)

Electric Loco- Environment friendly - Is that really so ??

= 16 Tonnes of coal Ash per day

One Electric Loco of 5000 HP requires 4.2 MW of Power. One MW of Power requires 10 Tonnes of Coal per day And at 40% Ash content, generates 4 Tonnes of Coal Ash per day.

Source: Central Electricity Authority Annual Report 1998-99

Conclusions   

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Electric Vs Diesel debate is not an issue of Departmental dominance but Economic survival. Electrification of High Density Traffic Route (49.72 GMT and above) is not being questioned. There is no pressing need for electrifying remaining sections when Railways are facing Financial Disaster. A complete moratorium on Electrification should be place, as an immediate measure. CORE should be wound up. Work of ongoing projects should be executed only by the concerned Railway as is the case with projects of BG conversion, doubling of lines and other Engg. / S&T / Elect. Works, which also overlap on Multiple Railways.