With steep drop in the wind power generation, all districts except Chennai have been witnessing unscheduled cuts ranging from 10 hours to 12 hours since Wednesday.

The officials of Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) points at the drastic fall in the wind power generation in the state.

As against the average wind power generation of 75 million units (MU) a day, the production fell to 22.8 MU on Wednesday leaving power managers with no other option but go for unscheduled cuts.

However, wind power generation improved a little on Thursday with the generation varying from around 400 MW to 2,500 MW, an official said, adding that the load shedding duration was brought down.

The wind power generation which picked up in May has been giving a constant headache to Tangedco officials due to its infirm nature.

A senior official said the variations in wind generation in July this year are found to be high in the range of 2,400 MW when compared with last year variation of 1,000 MW only.

“We hope wind power generation will improve. Usually, wind season lasts till September-end,” the official said.

The situation worsened as the drop in wind generation coincided with the shutdown of central thermal power stations at Neyveli II, Ramagundam and Talcher, which deprived the state of 1,000 MW of its share.

“Due to annual maintenance works at Ramagundam, Talcher Stage II and Neyveli II thermal power stations, power from central stations has come down by at least 1,000 MW as against our share of 2481 MW,” the official said, adding that usually the maintenance of the TPS would be taken between June and December to ensure smooth running of the units during the rest of the year.

Kovai industries hit by power cuts

Acute power shortages in the district are once again threatening to hit businesses at a time when the industries here were just starting to get some respite.

Wind power generation, a main source of support during crisis, has once again failed, and this coupled with grid issues at the national level has led to industries being crippled here.

On an average, at least Rs 15 crore production loss is being witnessed by the pump industry here. “It is a loss of production, revenue loss for labourers and job loss.

We cannot deliver goods on time,” complained Mr R. Maniraj, president of Kovai Power Driven Pumps and Spares Manufacturers’ Association (KOPMA), on Thursday.

Coimbatore makes 90 per cent of the total pump sets in Tamil Nadu and they are the most sought-after across the country given their competitive prices and high quality. There are about 50,000 pump and accessories industries in Kovai.

“The industry grew without support from the Centre or the state; but now, the power crisis is putting us down,” said Mr Maniraj adding that they, along with other associations, would go for a massive protest seeking regular power supply.

“The small companies that were making about 10 pieces a day are just making two now, due to the power shortage,” he added.

Mr J. James, president of Tamil Nadu Association of Cottage and Micro Enterprises (TACT), said that they were facing losses of about Rs 25 crore to Rs 30 crore on an average daily.

“This apart, there is great mental stress for labourers, their family members and students too,” he said, adding that there were around 30,000 cottage and micro units taking job orders.

“There has been a power shortage for the last two days due to weather changes. Though we have been affected badly, with our order books too not so full, we are just about managing with available power. However, we are confident that the situation will improve in the next two days.

Commissioning of power plants may be delayed

The delay in the commissioning of the thermal power stations at Vallur, North Chennai and Mettur has been a major headache for power managers, as they cannot rely on the wind power after September.

The Vallur Thermal Power station (TPS), jointly executed by Tangedco and NTPC, should have started generation last year itself. But the first unit of the 3X 500 MW plant is expected to go on stream only by October, as the coal handling system is not yet ready.

According to an official, coal and ash handing plants will be ready only by the end of next month. “We will go for commercial operation only when we are comfortable with the operation of the unit. It will take some more time,” a senior NTPC official said.

The second 500 MW unit of the Vallur plant achieved a milestone of the boiler light up on July 16 and the unit would be synchronised with the state grid by November if everything goes as per plan.

The third unit of the plant has been scheduled to commence full load operation only by July next year.
Tangedco has revised the commissioning schedule for the 2 X 600 MW North Chennai TPS stage II project and the 600 MW Mettur TPS stage III by a couple of months.

The second unit of 600 MW North Chennai plant would be commissioned by October as against the scheduled time of September, while Mettur station will achieve its full load operation only by December.

The state government had announced that it would bring down loadshedding duration from August this year hoping commissioning of one unit each of the Vallur and North Chennai and Mettur.

“In every monthly review meeting, the commissioning of the project is postponed by a month. If the latest schedule is not kept, we will face a major crisis once the wind season ends by September,” an official said.

With the host of power projects lined up by the government, we are hoping that the situation will staibilise after October,” said R. Ramachandran, president, Coimbatore District Small Industries Association.

Not enough water at Tuticorin plant

The power crisis being experienced by the southern districts in the Tirunelveli generation circle of Tangedco may further worsen as the 5x210 MW Tuticorin Thermal Power Station (TTPS) in Thoothukudi is facing acute water scarcity.

According to a highly placed source at the Tirunelveli generation circle of Tangedco, five units of TTPS need 1,250 kilolitres of soft water per day for cooling the boilers and for spraying continuously on coal while it is taken to the crusher houses of the plant by the closed conveyor.

The water supply from Thamirabarani river to the TTPS, however, has fallen drastically by 90 per cent since last week which might lead to the TTPS being shut down.

An assistant engineer at TTPS added that the water stored in the five ground-level reservoirs (GLRs) was highly inadequate to maintain generation more than a week.

Water supply to staff quarters too has been suspended forcing residents to use bore water for drinking purpose.

The official added that the government should act immediately to fetch water from an alternative source.

It is to be noted that the coal conveyor belt at TTPS met with fire accidents thrice in two months, in June and July, this year due to lack of soft water.

The acute water scarcity created due to the failure of southwest monsoon has also affected all the five hydro power projects of Sevalar (30MW), Papanasam (4x8MW), Kothayar I (60 MW), Kothayar-II (40 MW), Periyar project (4x35MW) and Suriliyaru project (30 MW) in the Tirunelveli generation circle.

The total generation capacity of these five hydro power projects in Tirunelveli generation circle is 332 MW.

Added to these problems is the sudden fall of wind power generation in Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts on Wednesday and Thursday.