Tamil Nadu reels from 8-hr power cut

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Almost the entire Tamil Nadu, barring capital Chennai, is facing an unprecedented power cut of eight to nine hours every day. People, farmers in particular, are protesting.

While the immediate reason for the deterioration in the power scenario is heavy purchase by other southern states and a sudden outage at North Chennai Thermal Power Station (NCTPS), a senior TANGEDCO official said projects in the state were simply not being able to meet the demand of about 11,500 MW.

The 210-MW unit-I at NCTPS has been halted following a problem in its generator stator. Besides, Ennore Thermal Power Station, which has completed its life cycle, generates 100 MW to 125 MW as against its installed capacity of 450 MW.

The official said projects slated to begin power generation by December had got delayed and were now expected to go on stream only in March or April this year. The power deficit in Tamil Nadu had gone up to 3,000 MW, he said.

TANGEDCO officials agreed there were unscheduled power cuts but denied eight dark hours a day.
The senior official said growing power demand in southern states had affected TN power purchase.

“Heavy congestion in the corridor is making it impossible for us to purchase power from other states. We are purchasing 500 MW from Gujarat but getting only 200 MW to 235 MW,” he said.