Turbines of the ambitious gas-based power plant in south Tripura is set to roll soon ending months of uncertainty.
The 726MW combined cycle plant of the ONGC Tripura Power Corporation (OTPC) at Palatana failed to start in June last after gas booster compressors developed serious technical snags.
“We have set the problems in order. Meantime, one 335MW capacitated turbine has been generating electricity unhindered in the trial run,” OTPC Chairman Managing Director S.K. Dubey told newsmen in Agartala.
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OTPC, which is a joint project of the ONGC, the Tripura government and two Central government enterprises are likely to go for commercial production early next month. Two booster compressors sent for repairing at BHEL workshop in Hyderabad are expected to return to the plant site in two weeks time from now, sources have said.
Palatana project has been one of biggest in the Northeast and hitherto, the only installation to be certified as green power project in the country.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh laid its foundation stone in October 2005 and in June last, President Pranab Mukherjee dedicated it to the nation.
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The power plant assumed significance after the Bangladesh government made a formal request to import electricity from it and the Tripura government gave consent to the proposal.