The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : 4 more power projects planned

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 27, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

4 more power projects planned

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) has initiated steps for four more power projects in the State totalling 2,500 MW at a total project cost of Rs 10,000 crore.

Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi will unveil the plaques for the new projects as part of the golden jubilee celebrations of the Board here on July 2.

The projects are North Chennai Thermal Station (500 MW), Mettur Thermal Station (500 MW), Kundah Storage Hydro-Electric Project (500 MW) and Tuticorin Thermal Power Project (two units of 500 MW each). In addition to this, the 2,000 MW Koodankulam Atomic Power Plant will become operational before the end of next year when the State would get another 806 MW as its share.

Claiming that the State is one among the few states to have surplus power, Electricity Minister Arcot N. Veeraswami said as against its requirement of 8500 MW, the installed capacity was 10,098 MW.

The surplus power was being sold to Maharashtra and Punjab at Rs 5.02 per unit.

Denying that there was an “unannounced power cut” in the State, the Minister, however, admitted that there was power shutdown in some parts of the State. This was due to shortage of transformers.

The Minister said when the new Government took charge in May last, the Board was in need of 15,000 transformers. In the last one year, about 8,000 transformers were procured and another 10,000 transformers would be purchased before the current year.

Tenders had been floated for the purchase.

The Minister said all future thermal projects in the State would utilise only imported coal as its thermal efficiency was much higher than the indigenous coal.

The ash content of local coal was of the order of 40 per cent as against 4 to 5 per in the imported coal. The Board was importing 15 lakh tonnes of coal per annum.

On the Railway Ministry’s request for subsidised high tension power supply to enable the Ministry to take up electrification of more railway lines in the State, the Minister said he had already suggested to Minister of State for Railways, R.Velu to set up a power plant at a cost of Rs 1000 crore in the State and the Tamil Nadu Government was willing to seek financial assistance from the Power Finance Corporation.

Within 10 years, railways could recover the cost. The Railway Minister had agreed to consider the proposal.

Thanks to the efficiency of the Board, the State topped in revenue collection with 99 per cent. The transportation and distribution loss was 18 per cent, and the plant load factor was the highest. He said the board was working towards reducing the line loss to 15 per cent as one percentage point reduction would lead to a saving of Rs 150 crore.

The Minister listed achievements of the board in the last 50 years.

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