Yeramarus Thermal Power Station may not help Karnataka tackle power crisis

Raichur: The state , which is facing a power crisis owing to the fall in generation at the Raichur Thermal Power Station, may not be able to rely on the new Yeramarus Thermal Power Station (YTPS) to help it meet some of the shortfall as its production could be hit as well due to acute water shortage at the Almatti and Basavasagar reservoirs.

The unit 1 of YTPS ,w hich has already completed the process of oil synchronization and is carrying out a trial run of the “coal synchronization” is expected to be ready for capacity addition by the month end. But its power generation could suffer owing to acute shortage of water in the reservoirs, according to official sources here

The plant, with two units of 800 MW each, has been set up at a cost of Rs 9,000 crore using state-of-the -art super-critical technology that uses water and coal optimally and produces higher amount of electricity, making it an eco-friendly project.

A joint-venture of the KPC and BHEL, it has been delayed for various reasons. Work on the plant began in 2010 and ended in March 2015. Although power generation was slated to begin the same month, delay in grant of permission by the Union Ministries of Coal and Environment, the death of a few workers at the project site and protests over building of a wall at the plant hit the pace of work.

The laying of water pipelines to the plant from the river Krishna has also been held up. The Yermarus plant is expected to draw 1.56 tmc ft of water a year from the river.

Nod for new reactor sites in Kaiga
The Union government has given an “in-principle” approval to sites for locating 46 new reactors comprising 23 twin unit projects in a phased manner, Rajya Sabha was informed today.

Of these, two projects comprising four units at Gorakhpur Haryana Anu Vidyut Pariyojana (GHAVP-2 x 700) and Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP- 2 x 1000) have been accorded administrative approval and financial sanction, Jitendra Singh, MoS in PMO, which looks after the Department of Atomic Energy, today said. The government has given in-principle approval for indigenous reactors units 3 and 4 (2x700) in Gorakhpur village of Fatehabad district in Haryana, Chutka in Madhya Pradesh (2x 700), Mahi Banswara in Rajasthan (4x700), Kaiga in Karnataka (2x700), Bhimpur in Madhya Pradesh (4 x 700) and Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu (2x600).