KALABURAGI: Technical problems as well as the shortage of coal have seriously affected power generation at Raichur Thermal Power Station(RTPS), one of the major generating stations in the state.
With the shutdown of one more unit (IVth Unit) on Monday, the total number of units shut down so far has reached four. That means of the total eight units of 210 MW capacity each, only four are functioning on Monday.
Mr C Venugopal, Executive Director of RTPS, said that on Sunday, two units had to be shut due to tripping. Already, Unit VIII has been shut down for annual maintenance. “In all, power generation has dipped to 815 MW as against the total installed capacity of 1720 MW.”
Although one of the two units that tripped on Sunday (Unit VII) would be ready for generation by Tuesday morning, it is unlikely to resume generation due to coal shortage. “As the coal stock in the yard exhausted about a week ago owing to insufficient supply for the last several days, we are now depending on coal rakes on a daily basis (each rake contains about 3500 tonnes).
As against our requirement of about 12 rakes, we are getting about five. With this supply, we are in a dilemma whether to resume generation by Unit VII, which tripped yesterday. Instead we want to divert part of the coal that we are getting to the nearby Yeramarus Thermal Power Station, which has no independent coal linkage”, he said.
