THOOTHUKUDI: The Udangudi Super Critical Thermal Power Plant will begin generating power by May this year, said Tangedco Chairman and Managing Director J Radhakrishnan after inspecting ongoing works and said the delay was due to labour shortage.
The state government has been constructing Udangudi Super Critical Thermal Power Plant comprising two units of 660 MW capacity each in 2,000 acres of land at Kalankudiyiruppu in Udangudi. The project is being done in three phases at an estimated cost of Rs 13,077 crore to provide uninterrupted power supply to the state.
It is the first project in Tamil Nadu to have its own offshore coal jetty constructed off Kallamozhi coast, at least 8 nautical miles from the shore. The coals will be transported through conveyor belts to the plant.
Radhakrishnan, while speaking to the media, said that the first unit work is expected to be completed by the end of May and will generate electricity. The second unit is likely to be completed in July or August, he said.
"Over 4500 are employed in Unit 1. However, over 40% to 50% of labourers keep leaving," he said and added that BHEL has requested to increase the number of employees.
The power demand has increased as temperature has spiked during the day. However, the state relies not only on thermal power plants, but gets alternate power from gas turbine plants. The demand is managed from the sharing of central thermal power projects like Kalpakkam, Neyveli and Koodankulam nuclear power plants.
Over 6,500 MW is provided from the central power-grid, the union government had agreed to provide 450 MW following requests for more power, Radhakrishnan said.
Even though the total power generation capacity is 36,000 MW daily, Radhakrishnan said the state had placed enormous arrangements for sourcing power to meet the demands during the peak hours of March, April and May, which sees a substantial increase in consumption every year.
The power purchase from private power plants, hydel projects, central grid sharing, swap arrangements, and power distribution framework are being continuously monitored, he added.