Water-reduction potential of air-cooled condensers in coal power plants in India and anticipated trade-offs

Wet cooling towers (WCT) are widely used to reject the unutilized heat in coal thermal power plants (TPPs). But this comes at the cost of excessive water consumption. Adoption of air-cooled condensers (ACC), also known as dry cooling systems, in all proposed Indian TPPs would reduce their water consumption by 26% in 2030. However, power producers are reluctant to install ACC due to technical and economic disadvantages such as high capital investment and land footprint. This study evaluates the major challenges in implementing ACC by quantifying them in terms of cost of electricity generation.