CHENNAI: In a bid to ensure regular supply of water to thermal power plants and conserve potable water, two thermal power stations in the State have been identified that will be getting treated water from the sewage treatment plant.
Ministry of Urban Development secretary Rajiv Gauba has written to the state government urging chief secretary Girija Vaidyanathan to direct mission directors of Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Chennai Corporation and other areas to ensure signing of Memorandum of Understanding with the power plants.
The two thermal power plants (TPPs) are National Thermal Power Corporation Tamil Nadu Energy Company Limited (NTECL) in Vallur and Ind Bharat Power Gen in Tuticorin.
This comes after the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) has been working with Ministry of Power to tie up with thermal power plants situated within 50km of Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) and urban local bodies, with the objective of supplying secondary and tertiary treated water to the power plants.
It is learned that the mapping of operational sewage treatment plants in cities, which are at a distance of up to 50km from power plants, was done by the Union Power Ministry.
It has identified 29 power plants across the country which could be supplied with treated water from sewage treatment plant.
The total water consumption by the 29 plants is 2,303 MLD of water per day, while capacity of sewage treatment plants identified is 7,665 MLD of water.
The 3x500mw Vallur plant consumes a total of 105 MLD per day, and sewage treatment plants of Chennai Corporation, which has a capacity of 481 MLD of treated water, has to be tapped. Similarly, officials are also trying to tap the sewage treatment plant of Sriperumbudur town panchayat to fulfill the needs of Vallur plant. It has a capacity of 14.710 MLD per day.
Similarly, the sewage treatment plant in Tirunelveli municipal corporation has been identified to provide treated water to the 660mw Ind Bharath Power Gen.
As per sources, nearly 80 gigawatt of thermal capacity will be covered under the revised (electricity) tariff policy notified by the Government of India on January 28, 2016, wherein thermal power plants, including existing plants, located within 50 km radius of sewage treatment plant of any municipality/local bodies/similar organisation shall mandatorily use treated sewage water produced by these bodies.
The Union government is pushing for treated sewage water, as many power plants had to undergo shutdown during certain periods due to non-availability of water. The power generation loss was 5,870 million units (MUs) in 2016-17 till February, due to non-availability of water.
The loss due to non-availability of water was 4,989 MUs in 2015-16, 1,258 MUs in 2014-15 and 5,253 MUs in 2013-14.