The Mettur Dam’s closure on Tuesday for Cauvery delta irrigation and the maintenance shutdown at two units of the Mettur Thermal Power Station (MTPS) have pushed power production in the State to a new low.
The combined drop in generation at Mettur is now 810 MW as against the total installed capacity of 1230 MW. The heavy showers have not added to power generation at the Mettur Dam’s hydro-electric power stations.
Instead, the dam had to be closed due to heavy rains in the Cauvery delta districts and partly because of drastic reduction in the storage.
The dam was closed on Tuesday morning, following which power production at the 200 MW Tunnel Power House, 40 MW Old Power House and 150 MW in the five barrages came to a halt.
The Mettur Dam’s hydro electric units contribute 490 MW out of the State’s total hydrogeneration of 3683.40 MW. Power is generated during the Cauvery delta irrigation spell from June 12 to January 28. However, since the onset of drought and the Cauvery issue, power production has greatly been depending on the natural and political climate.
The present storage of the Mettur Dam is a mere 28.098 tmcft, which will suffice only for two weeks.
The build-up is slow as the inflow was only 3,425 cusecs and the water level stood at 64.43 feet as against a full height of 120 feet. At the Mettur Thermal Power Station, two units of stage-two have been shut down for maintenance. Each unit has a capacity of 210 MW.