VIJAYAWADA: Special chief secretary to the government, energy department, K. Vijayanand said that Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) has agreed to supply 35.48 lakh tonnes of coal per annum to Sri Damodaram Sanjeevaiah Thermal Power Station (SDSTPS), Stage-II, Unit-3(800 MW) and termed it as a great boon for meeting the rising demand and providing 24x7 qualitative power supply.
He stated that recently the commercial operation date (COD) of the unit was declared on March 10 and the MCL has issued permission for the supply of coal as per FSA to Unit-3 with effect from May 1.
Vijayanand said that AP Genco and APPDCL had units of 5,811 MW of thermal and 7,989 MW of total installed capacity, for which they have a fuel supply agreement (FSA) for the supply of coal from MCL for a quantity of 17.165 MMTPA (million metric tonnes per annum) and from Singareni Coal Collieries Limited (SCCL) for a quantity of 6.88 MTTPA.
He further explained that accordingly, coal is being supplied through all rail routes (from MCL & SCCL) to Dr Narla Tata Rao Thermal Power Station (NTTPS), Rayalaseema Thermal Power Plant (RTPP) and Rail Sea Rail mode (from MCL) to SDSTPS & RTPP.
Managing Director of AP Genco, K.V.N. Chakradhar Babu said that the daily energy demand had touched its peak at 247 MU on April 20, 2023, with an average demand of 232 MU per day in the month and is expected to reach 250 MU in the coming days. In this critical juncture, the supercritical Unit-3 of 800 MW capacity taken up as stage-II of SDSTPS is in operation since March 10 and is contributing to the daily average generation of around 16 MU of energy and it came in handy to meet the rising demand of AP state Grid.
Chakradhar Babu said that another 1x800 MW unit of NTTPS is going to be lit up within one month and the commercial operation date would be after 3 months of light up of the unit. As part of capacity addition in green energy, it is planned to install 2 additional units of 115 MW each at Lower Sileru and expected to generate the power by July 2024, said the MD of AP Genco.
