Tech snag at Vallur plant causes loss of 300 MW

One of the two 500MW units of the Vallur Thermal Plant came to a grinding halt in the early hours Wednesday after the unit’s boiler tube was punctured. Considering Tamil Nadu’s quota of 60 per cent (2x300MW from a 2x500MW unit) from Centre run plants, a quick calculation puts the production loss suffered by the state owing to failure in Vallur station at 300MW. 

While the technical snag at Vallur would create anxiety among the people of a hitherto power-hit state, the state’s energy managers remain unfazed. Admitting that one of the 500MW units of Vallur Thermal Power Station, which is run by NTPCL (National Thermal Power Corporation Limited) had suffered breakdown, TNEB (Tamil Nadu electricity board) officials said they would make good the loss by increasing production at their other thermal units. 

“Boiler tube puncture is a simple snag that can be repaired in a day. Moreover, wind generation is quite good. It has been raining during the last few days, so demand has come down to 12,000MW. Our thermal plants are generating less than 4,000MW now. We push them to the peak capacity of 4,500MW only during summer when our demand peaks. So we can easily make good the deficit by increasing production at our thermal plants,” a confident senior TNEB officer told DTNext.