One of the five units of Tuticorin Thermal Power Station suspended production after a breakdown on Tuesday evening. The first unit suffered a breakdown following a failure in a boiler tube, officials said.
S. Valliappan, Chief Engineer of TTPS, said the problem occurred at 11.30 p.m. on Tuesday following a leak in the boiler tube. In concurrence with officials in Load Dispatching Centre, Chennai, the faulty units were shutdown for repair works.
However, he said technicians attended to the problem and expressed hope that the suspended unit might resume production overnight. The snag had resulted in production shortfall of 210 megawatt.
Each of the units is of 210 mw capacity. It was the fourth occasion that the first unit of the TTPS suffered breakdown since April 2013, Mr. Valliappan said.
There was a halt in power generation in third and fifth units of the power plant on August 23 due to puncture and defect in air pre-heater equipment.
After setting right the faults, the third unit resumed operation the next day, but the fifth unit became operational after 74 hours.
Mr. Valliappan also said the TTPS would take up overhauling of the fifth power generating unit in its next programme. Earlier in 2013-14, first and second units of the plants were overhauled. Overhauling in each of the units consumed 10 days and such formalities were essential to renew licences in the presence of Deputy Director of Boilers.
