The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Ramagundam power unit commissioned

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 27, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Ramagundam power unit commissioned

By K.M. Dayashankar

GODAVARIKHANI (KARIMNAGAR DT), SEPT. 26. The National Thermal Power Corporation's 500 MW (Stage III) Unit 7 of the Ramagundam Super Thermal Power Project was commissioned here today by the Union Minister for Power, P.M. Sayeed.

With the commissioning of the unit, the installed capacity of the Ramagundam project goes up to 2,600 MW, making it one of the biggest thermal power stations in the country. The seventh unit was constructed at a cost of Rs. 1,780.99 crores and commissioned in a record time of 37 months from the date of award of the main plant contract. Earlier, the record stood in the name of the Talcher unit of the NTPC, which was commissioned in 39 months.

Major share for State

The power generated from the seventh unit will be shared among the southern States of Andhra Pradesh (145.86 MW), Karnataka (86.76 MW), Tamil Nadu (118.20 MW), Kerala (61.61 MW) and the Union Territory of Pondicherry (12.57 MW) with 75 MW as unallocated share. Among the unique features of the seventh unit are the 275-metre-high chimney, electrostatic precipitators, cooling towers, ash handling system, ash water recirculation system and dry ash extraction and transportation system without causing environmental pollution. The Chief Minister, Y.S Rajasekhara Reddy, and the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, S. Jaipal Reddy, also attended the function.

A milestone

The NTPC Chairman and Managing Director, C.P Jain, said the installed capacity of all NTPC units had gone up to 22,435 MW with the commissioning of the Ramagundam unit. The NTPC had also emerged as the sixth largest power-generating company in the world. The corporation had drawn up an ambitious plan of becoming a 40,000 MW-plus power company by 2012.

Incentive for staff

Lauding the NTPC authorities for commissioning the unit in a record time, Mr. Sayeed said the NTPC was set a target of adding 9,000 MW during the Tenth Plan. Till date it had added about 2,500 MW. The Union Minister also announced an incentive of Rs. 51 lakhs to all employees of the unit.

Mr. Jaipal Reddy said the NTPC had set another milestone with the commissioning of the unit. . The State Ministers, M. Satyanarayana Rao, G. Vinod, V. Lakshmikantha Rao, the zilla parishad chairman, K.V. Rajeshwara Rao, the MLAs, D. Sridhar, K Eshwar, Chada Venkat Reddy, T. Jeevan Reddy, J. Ratnakar Rao, J.C. Diwakar Reddy, K. Ramulu, G. Mukund Reddy, the Power Secretary, R.V Sashi, the NTPC directors, K. K. Sinha and Shankar Lingam, and the Collector, C. Parthasarathi, were present.

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