The 700 MW thermal plant, established in Ballari Thermal Power Station (BTPS) at Kuditini near Ballari, commenced its commercial power generation on Friday. This is the third unit at BTPS. The power station already has two units with 500 MW installed capacity.
"It is a momentous day for Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd. (KPCL) when the third unit, which is the first in the State as for as power generation capacity is concerned, generated around 711 MW during 72-hour trial run. From today, the unit is ready for commercial production," said G. Kumar Naik, KPCL's Managing Director.
He said BTPS is now equipped to generate around 40 million units a day, which would help ease power shortage the state is facing, given the dip in hydel power generation due to insufficient rainfall.
Mr. Naik said that the coal requirement for third unit would be met from West Bengal coal mines. As for as water requirement, the state government had allocated 2.34 tmcft from Narayanpur dam and a detail project report was being prepared to draw water. "Till then, we will manage with the existing facility of regenerated water from Maralihalla in Koppal district.
P. Bhaskar, technical director of KPCL, and Mrutyunjaya, Executive Director and other senior officials were present.
