Incessant rain coupled with the 72-hour strike of electricity employees for the cause of Samaikyandhra resulted in the power production at Rayalaseema Thermal Power Project (RTPP) in Kalamala of Erraguntla mandal coming to a grinding halt for the last three days.
Following heavy rains on September 11, water in large quantities gushed into the coal plant of RTPP bringing the production of 1,050 MW of power to a halt in all the five units (each unit produces 210 MV power a day).
The rainwater from the hill areas located near RTPP entered into the coal plant. Later, water also entered the conveyor belt building and also into the power house, forcing the officials to halt the power production in all the remaining four units as the first one was already shut down for over hauling. All the motors in the power project were also inundated with rainwater.
District collector Kona Sasidhar and RTPP chief engineer P Kumar Babu inspected the power project on September 12 and discussed about the steps to be taken for restoring power production.
Speaking to Express, Kumar Babu said he was not sure about the exact time when they will be able to restore the power production in RTPP.
As all the conditional extraction pumps and their motors still remain under water, we have to first lift away the water outside and should take up heating process for all the 15 pumps and motors (each units consists of three pumps and motors) before bringing them to function, he added.