States oldest thermal power station to close its doors by next May
Posted on: 09/Aug/2016 9:55:22 AM
The board of the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation, or TANGEDCO, has given its approval to the proposal to close the State’s oldest thermal power station at Ennore. The station will be permanently closed from March 31, 2017.
The seven member committee took the decision. The Committee was formed to prepare a roadmap to decommission the four-decade-old ETPS, headed by chief engineer, mechanical, thermal stations of TANGEDCO, in its final meeting on July 26. After the TANGEDCO board gives its approval to the proposal to decommission the ETPS, the statutory bodies like Central Electricity Authority and Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission would be intimated about the decision. The decommissioning of the ETPS was speeded up in the wake of expiry of terms of reference given by Ministry of Environment and Forest for the proposed 660 MW ETPS Replacement project on July 23 this year.
The minutes of the committee meeting that was held in July said, The validity for TOR had already expired and further extension of two year has been requested by project wing but one year extension is expected up to July 23 next year. Before that date, ETPS units have to be stopped and the environmental clearance should be obtained. Otherwise all the process to obtain EC has to be commenced afresh. The committee directed for the redeployment of the existing employees and to retain minimum staff required for evaluation and safeguarding the dismantled materials till disposal and closure of the plant office and awarding of work contracts. The committee also recommends the formation of a committee headed by a director comprising chief engineers and chief financial controller to assess the value of the dismantling and disposal of materials at the existing ETPS.
Says a senior official, The ETPS which began generation in 1,969 is capable of generating 130 mw if maintenance work was carried out at a small cost. We are unhappy with the board’s reluctance to spend little amount on maintenance for the ETPS to make use of its full generation potential when it is spending hundreds of crore rupees on yearly maintenance of newly built thermal plants. As far as the status of the replacement power project, we are in the process of floating a tender to prepare detailed project report for the project. The supercritical project has very high efficiency compared to the existing units in terms of consumption of coal and emission standards.
