Vallur station stops supply of 1,000 MW to Tangedco

Cites non-payment of dues; power blackouts in several parts of city

Due to power failure, residents stage a road roko at Erukkancherry High Road, in Chennai late on Wednesday.

Despite Vallur power station cutting off 1,000 MW of power supply to Tamil Nadu, Tangedco officials said they would manage the peak summer demand without any issue due to the availability of short term power from private players as well as wind power. However, there were power blackouts in various parts of Chennai, including T.Nagar, Perambur, Nandanam, Kilpauk, Adyar and Anna Salai, among others. People protested in front of EB offices in north Chennai.

The Vallur power station (NTECL Vallur) in North Chennai, is the joint venture between Tangedco and NTPC. It has three units of 500 MW each. Tamil Nadu’s share of power from the units is 1,065 MW.

On April 26, out of three units, two units were stopped owing to non-payment of dues. The third unit is operational to supply power to the beneficiary states that have not defaulted in making their payments, according to an NTPC official. According to NTPC, Tangedco has outstanding dues of ₹1,156 crore.

The cut down in supply comes in the busy summer season. Tamil Nadu is expected to have a demand of over 15,000 MW. On April 29, 2016, Tamil Nadu hit an all-time high peak demand of 15,343 MW. Excluding the Vallur supply, Tamil Nadu currently has a capacity of 17,039 MW, which includes power from own thermal stations, short term power purchases from private players and power exchanges, share of power from other central power generating units among others.

 

Major challenge

The major challenge would come if any of the key generating stations including Kudankulam is shut for maintenance or faces power outage.

“There won’t be any crisis because of Vallur. We have 3,000 MW of wind power available at price of ₹3.10 per unit. Short term power from private players is available in the range of ₹2.92- ₹3.95 per unit when compared to ₹5.35 per unit of power from Vallur,” said a Tangedco official.

He also denied that huge dues were pending.

A government statement said that there was an outstanding due over 60 days of ₹502 crore, out of which ₹200 crore has been paid. Tangedco and NTECL are jointly working on to resolve the issue.