The 800 MW unit of Kothagudem Thermal Power Station (KTPS) would be commissioned by the month-end as all tests have been completed in the last three months after synchronising it with the grid on June 30.
The availability of 800 MW power is expected to come in handy for power utilities in the State following short supply of energy by several producers, including Chhattisgarh with whom they have power purchase agreements (PPA), mainly due to coal shortage. “The boiler of KTPS seventh-unit will be lit up again on October 20-21, the plant will reach its capacity generation by October 25 and the commercial operation date (CoD) will be by the month-end,” Chairman and Managing Director of Telangana State Power Generation Corporation Ltd (TS-Genco) D. Prabhakar Rao said here on Thursday.
The executives of TS-Genco and Transmission Corporation of Telangana Ltd (TS-Transco) had a meeting with senior executives of Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) here on Thursday to review the progress of the power projects being executed by the latter. Apart from the 800 MW seventh-unit of KTPS, BHEL is also executing 4×270 MW Bhadradri Thermal Power Project at Manuguru in Bhadradri-Kothagudem district and 5×800 MW Yadadri Thermal Power Station (YTPS) at Veerlapalem in Nalgonda district.
Meeting the demand
Stating that peak power load met so far this year was 10,818 MW, Mr. Rao said they were ready to meet the demand up to 11,500 MW in spite of the short supply by some PPA holders. The average demand was about 10,000 MW every day due to increase in the consumption by agriculture sector following introduction of 24×7 free power from January 1, and also from industrial and domestic sectors.
He explained that two units of Bhadradri would be commissioned by March-end next and the remaining two units would be operational after a gap of three months. Similarly, two units of Yadadri would be commissioned by the end of October 2020 and remaining three units by the end of October 2021, Mr. Rao explained.
When asked about some Congress leaders from Nalgonda district raising concerns over Yadadri thermal project’s impact on the environment, Executive Director of BHEL G. Uday Kumar said the emission issues were being taken care of with an estimated cost of ₹5,597 crore out of the project cost of about ₹30,000 crore. Flue Gas De-sulfurisation (FGD), oxides of nitrogen (NoX) and oxides of sulphur (SoX) would be addressed to maximum level to prevent air, soil and water pollution, he explained.
