BENGALURU: To meet the increasing power demand in the state, the Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL) will add additional 370MW to the grid from the first week of way, from the Yelahanka Combined Cycle Power Plant.
While this is the first such plant in Karnataka, there are already around 70 such in India including that of NTPC and many private firms, maximum being in Gujarat.
Mahadeva Prasad, KPCL, Executive Engineer, Yelahanka said, the source for generation of power is Regasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG), which is much cleaner than domestic gas used at houses. It is being supplied by GAIL through piped network. For generating 370MW power, 1.2 metric million standard cubic metre gas is required.
He explained, at present the generation is at precommission stage of 20MW and next month it will increase further. However from May 1st week, full capacity generation will be done.
Since it is a base load power generation unit, if there is no supply, operations cannot be stopped. Just like thermal power plants, technical minimum generation will have to be maintained of 60% of installed capacity.
The energy department officials said, the state government has set a target of increasing generation to 60,000MW from existing 32,000MW in the next seven years. Currently, renewable energy contributes 63% of power generation in the state.
The KPCl officials said all required National Green Tribunal and Karnataka State Pollution Control Board clearances have been obtained for commissioning the plant. The officials added that to address the complaint of locals of noise pollution, sufficient sound barriers have been installed. The unit operates in a closed cycle and noise will be less than 75 Decibels per the prescribed standards. It is also regularly monitored by KSPCB.
Diwakar, Technical Director at KPCL said: “We are currently only running the gas turbine, which is why there is some noise. This is only for a temporary period of 30-45 days. As it is a combined cycle plant, once we start running the steam turbine, the noise will reduce and the steam will also be repurposed in the plant. To avoid inconvenience to residents, we have decided to restrict the trials at the plant to only daytime.”