Singareni thermal plant achieves highest PLF in country

Tenders to be invited for floating solar power plant at Lower Manair Dam reservoir

A view of the Singareni Thermal Power Plant at Pegadapalli in Mancherial district.

Singareni Thermal Power Plant (STPP), a unit of Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL), has achieved the highest plant load factor (PLF) for all thermal power stations in the country in the first three quarters of 2021-22, by the end of December.

It clocked 87.18% PLF in the first nine months of the current fiscal. Incidentally, the thermal power stations of Telangana State Power Generation Corporation (TSGenco) stood second at national level with a PLF of 73.98%.

Quoting the rankings for thermal power stations issued by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), officials of SCCL stated that West Bengal Power Development Corporation stood third with 70.29% PLF followed by Chhattisgarh Power Generation Corporation with 68.1%, Odisha Power Generation Corporation with 63.95% and Andhra Pradesh Genco with 58.83%.

Complimenting the authorities for keeping STPP at the top in terms of PLF with proper management, Chairman and Managing Director of SCCL N. Sridhar said the thermal plant had generated 6,904 million units of energy in the first nine months of the current fiscal with a 29% growth over the last year – 5,335 MU.

Similarly, the energy sales had clocked a revenue of ₹2,879 crore in the first three quarters this year with 20% growth compared to ₹2,386 crore netted during the same period last year. Mr. Sridhar directed the authorities to complete the electrification of the railway line from Srirampur area mines to the thermal power plant at Pegadapalli near Jaipur in Mancherial district for speedy supply of coal.

Accidents avoided

The CMD said although the authorities were managing the thermal plant without giving any scope for accidents so far and suggested them to set up a committee on the safety measures in the plant.

On the company’s progress in establishing solar power plants in the mining areas, Mr. Sridhar said solar plants with 219 megawatt capacity had already been established. He noted that SCCL was the only public sector coal company in the country to have diversified into solar power generation. He instructed the officials to commission at least 5 mw out of 15 mw floating solar power plant on STPP water reservoir by March-end.

On the plans of establishing a floating solar power plant on the water of Lower Manair Dam reservoir, the CMD wanted the officials to complete the survey work by the month-end and prepare detailed project report by February-end so that tenders could be invited in March.