The stage has been set for the early commissioning of the first unit of the 1,000-megawatt (MW) power plant in Tuticorin of the NLC Tamil Nadu Power Limited (NTPL), a joint venture of the TANGEDCO) and the NLC.
The coal-fired plant will have two units of 500 MW each, and operations have been launched to get the first unit started up at the earliest. The process of conducting mandatory checks is under way, and all formalities will be completed in a month, NTPL sources said on Saturday. A trial run was scheduled for June.
When the first unit starts production, the State will get 194 MW. From the two units, the State will get 387 MW. This will be a significant addition at a time when Tamil Nadu is fighting hard to overcome its electricity shortage.
Designed to handle a mix of indigenous and foreign coal, the plant is being set up by NTPL, in which the NLC has 89 per cent stake and TANGEDCO 11 per cent.