CHENNAI: At a time when the state is witnessing rising electricity demand amid the prolonged summer, generation at one of the two 600 MW units at Stage-II of the North Chennai Thermal Power Station (NCTPS) has been temporarily stopped from Friday to Monday, following a technical snag.
The shutdown comes as the state power utility is already working to meet the growing demand. However, officials said the snag would not have a major impact on power supply as demand has declined in the last two days owing to the holidays.
Though repair work at the NCTPS unit is expected to be completed by Sunday, the unit may require at least 12 hours before generation can be restored. The massive metal components, thick-walled pipes and boilers have to be heated gradually before the unit can be brought back to operation, the official said.
Meanwhile, TNPGCL has also stopped generation from the first 210 MW unit of the Mettur Thermal Power Station. With the shutdown of the two units, the state has temporarily lost 810 MW of generation capacity – 600 MW at NCTPS and 210 MW at Mettur.
A senior official of the Tamil Nadu Power Generation Corporation Limited (TNPGCL) told TNIE that the state’s power demand fell from 19,560 MW on October 1 to 17,770 MW on October 2 owing to the holidays. Hence, the temporary shutdown of the NCTPS unit did not affect the power supply, he added.
Technical snags at thermal power stations are not unusual and periodic annual maintenance is essential to ensure the reliability of the units. “During the wind season, such maintenance works are taken up at thermal power stations. Once electricity demand comes down, the maintenance works will be taken up in a phased manner,” he said.
