Solar and wind energy make up for shortfall

As thermal power production dips at Tuticorin Thermal Power Station

March 12, 2017 07:43 pm | Updated March 13, 2017 07:52 am IST - Thoothukudi

A view of the Thermal Power Station in Tuticorin.

A view of the Thermal Power Station in Tuticorin.

While demand for electricity has been soaring this summer, only two units of Tuticorin Thermal Power Station (TTPS), with a capacity of 210 MW each, are operational now.

The first and the fifth units were operational while the other three were kept idle, official sources told The Hindu here. While the second unit was under a 35-day capital overhauling since February 13, the third and the fourth units, which suffered a breakdown following a technical snag a couple of days ago, had been readied after fixing the problems.

Since the required amount of water essential for coal-fired thermal power generation could not be sourced in the wake of scarcity triggered by monsoon failure, possibility of operating all five units had become remote.

Now, the third and the fourth units had been kept on standby.

If the load despatch centre in Chennai gave its nod, one more unit could be made operational, sources said.

These two units had been functioning with limited water. With the suspension of operation in three units, there was a production shortfall of 630 MW.

However, there was an increase in demineralised water being sourced from the neighbouring plant of NLC Tamil Nadu Power Limited (NTPL).

Earlier, 500 kilolitres of demineralised water was used from the NTPL every day, and it was increased to 750 kilolitres in recent days.

Besides, 2000 kilolitres of water was being pumped in from a local source every day, sources said.

Since adequate electricity had been generated through optimum utilisation of non-conventional energy sources, water scarcity was not affecting conventional energy production much.

With the prevailing hot weather, production of solar energy was considerably up in the recent days from plants in Kamudhi in Ramanathapuram district, Aruppukottai and Tiruchuli in Virudhunagar district, sources from Tirunelveli Circle, Non-Conventional Energy Sources, TANGEDCO, said. “As for wind energy, it is off season, but there is a fluctuation,” they added.

Totally, 930 MW of wind energy was generated on Friday, 780 MW on Thursday and 671 MW on Wednesday from Muppandal of Aralvaimozhi pass and from Kayathar of Shencottah pass. On a daily average, 800 MW of wind energy and around 700 MW of solar energy derived from non-conventional sources could be synchronised with the grid from Tirunelveli Circle.

Thoothukudi was an ideal location for installing solar power plants and some stakeholders promoting solar energy systems had come forward to set up their ventures in Ottapidaram and Ottanatham, the sources said.

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