Despite 12 units of various power plants, including those at Vallur and Thoothukudi, being out of action owing to various reasons, the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) managed the consumers’ demand in the State by utilising additional power generated at wind and hydel stations, and the newly constructed Mettur stage III plant.
According to TANGEDCO’s power generation report, with the wind and hydel power units witnessing a surge, despite many units being out of production, the TANGEDCO was able to maintain the load shedding at two hours that also only in a few places. However, Chennai was spared from the load shedding as it enjoyed uninterrupted power supply.
On Saturday, the State thermal power plants at Thoothukudi, North Chennai, Mettur and Ennore, including the newly constructed Mettur Stage III plant, generated around 3,000 MW against the installed capacity of 3,570 MW.
The 600 MW Mettur stage III plant generated eight million units in 24 hours till Saturday morning.
Similarly, the hydel stations at Kundhah, Kadamparai, Sholayar, Mettur dam and Periyar produced 1,251 MW on Saturday morning, while the wind mills that were generating 250 MW till last week generated 845 MW on Saturday.
Generation surge aided the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation to maintain regular supply despite two units being kept out of production leading to a shortfall of 1,000 MW. Similarly, unit II (210 MW) of the Thoothukudi thermal plant was shut down due to a leak in the boiler tube.
Meanwhile, unit 2 of the Madras (Kalpakkam) Atomic Power Plant that was shut down for five months from April 15 after a fire in the generator would be reopened on September 30.
Further, Unit 3 (50 MW) and 7 (100 MW) of the Neyveli stage I and Unit 4 and 5 of the Neyveli stage II, each having 210 MW installed capacity, were kept out of production for annual maintenance works.
Apart from these plants, three units of Ennore thermal power plant were also shut down due to technical snags in the equipment as they crossed their lifespan, the TANGEDCO officials explained.