After a three-month shutdown, a trial run at the 600-MW Mettur Thermal Power Station Stage-III began around 11 p.m. on Monday.
Officials said supply of power to the grid might commence in the late hours of Tuesday, as part of the final stage of the trial run. Funded by Power Finance Corporation, the construction of the plant began on June 25, 2008. It was completed at Rs.3,564 crore and became operational on May 4, 2012.
“Trials were conducted at the new plant at various stages till the unit was completely shut down on May 25, 2013 for repair and maintenance works and for completion of pending works”, a Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) official at the plant told The Hindu .
He said the plant’s equipment was from China and experts from that country were monitoring the functioning of the plant at various stages, along with the representative of the private firm that built the plant.
He added that the production would be increased to 100 MW on Tuesday night and to 300 MW the following day. “We have planned to maintain generation at 300 MW for a week and increase it gradually to reach the full capacity of 600 MW on September 10, provided there is no technical snag,” the official said. According to Tangedco officials, Mettur Thermal Power Station Stage-III generated full load from May 20 to 23, this year. It is learnt that the generation dropped when efforts were made to maintain full capacity. The officials said the main unit had now been fine-tuned and fine-tuning of auxiliary units was under way to ensure generation was not affected.
