TTPS achieves lowest generation cost in TN milestone

Achieving the feat in May this year, TTPS-being one among the five thermal stations in the State, including two at Mettur and two in north Chennai- emerged on top in terms of power generation at the least cost. With indigenous coal, which is cost effective, being sourced from the Eastern and Mahanadi coalfields, the power station in Thoothukudi achieved the feat, sources told DT Next on Wednesday.

Boiler tubes in TTPS, which has five units with a generation capacity of 210 MW each, were primarily designed to handle domestic coal, which contains 40-42% ash as compared to imported coal which reportedly has just 8 per cent content. “Since foreign coal has higher calorific value than indigenous coal, less amount of coal is enough for generation. Hence, power generation [in TTPS] relied on 25 per cent imported coal, mostly from Indonesia. On a daily average, it requires about 17,000 to 18,000 tonnes of coal for generation from these five units,” sources said.

Moreover, TTPS also made another achievement after having surpassed its generation target set by the Central Electricity Authority. During the fiscal year of 2018-19, a target of 5,678 million units was set, but it exceeded the target, generating 6,306 million units, sources pointed out.

Except for the third unit of this plant that tripped on 28th last month, the rest have been functional without suffering any breakdown.