The third unit of Thoothukudi Thermal Power Station (TTPS) suffered a breakdown on Tuesday evening after its boiler tube developed a puncture.
Production from this unit came to a halt at around 6.30 p.m. A team of technical experts attended to the problem, which had been rectified and the unit is kept ready for production.
However, there was a direction from higher authorities in Chennai to maintain the third unit on a standby mode, sources told The Hindu here on Wednesday. Yet another unit of TTPS was already kept on standby since Sunday. Production from the second unit was suspended since then. Currently, production is on from the first, fourth andfifth units. Each of the units has the capacity of producing 210 MW of electricity. The cold weather prevailing in several parts of the region in recent days did not allow the electricity demand to escalate, sources said. Moreover, wind energy production is also on the rise over the last couple of days. Unusually, the wind energy production achieved 1,400 MW until 5 p.m. on Wednesday, according to sources in the Tirunelveli Non-Conventional Energy Source, TANGEDCO.
On Tuesday, the wind energy production touched 1000 MW. “Now, it is off season for wind energy production and normal generation during this period is 500 MW. But in the last two days, considerable wind energy production had been recorded in Kayathar, Aralvaimozhi, Muppandal, Epodhum Vendran, Shencottah and Tenkasi,” sources said.
