TIRUNELVELI: With power generation by windmills falling drastically, and adding to the maintenance shutdown of units at the Tuticorin thermal power station in Thoothukudi and at the nuclear power station at Kudankulam, unscheduled power cuts threatens to return to Tamil Nadu’s southern districts in particular.
Having an installation capacity of around 7,149 mw, windmills in the state registered a very low generation of 246 mw on September 5, according to the southern regional load dispatch centre (SRLDC). The fall in generation by windmills was so drastic that it dropped from 3,210 mw five days ago on September 1.
According to an official source at Tangedco—Tirunelveli distribution circle, wind energy will fall further once the monsoon starts.
The 1000 MW nuclear reactor at the Kudankulam nuclear power project (KKNPP) that was to resume power generation by August 23 as per schedule after two months of annual maintenance shutdown will not start as per schedule, adding to the power shortage. Tamil Nadu received an allocation of 562 mw from the 1000 mw generated by the first unit of the KKNPP.
Foreseeing a shortfall in power availability during September, the Tamil Nadu government, according to a Tangedco source, has written to the Atomic Energy Commission of India to resume power generation in the first unit of KKNPP by mid-September. KKNPP site director R S Sundar, however, said that maintenance works are still on and the unit could resume generation only by the end of this month.
The average power generated at the 5x210 MW Tuticorin thermal power station (TTPS) on September 6 was 775 mw against its installed capacity of 1050 mw. The reason, according to a TTPS source is that unit V of TTPS is under annual maintenance shutdown for 40 days.
The 2x500 MW coal fired units of the NTPL, a central power station in Thoothukudi that were commissioned very recently too have been suspended for administrative reasons. The Tangedco officials, however, hopefully expect power supply from all these units in the southern districts to make up the fall in the wind energy sector soon.
