Relaxed technical parameters proposed for thermal plants in Tamil Nadu

CHENNAI: To compensate for the losses suffered by the State-owned thermal power stations, the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission has proposed an amendment to the TNERC (Terms and Conditions for Determination of Tariff) Regulations, 2005, by relaxing technical parameters to the thermal power plants.

“To absorb such renewable energy (RE) power, which is infirm, the existing State-owned thermal power plants should be ramped up and down very frequently, which results in increased station heat rate, auxiliary consumption, specific fuel consumption, etc. Most of the State-owned thermal power plants operate at a lesser PLF than the normative PLF of 80%. Therefore, it is necessary either to compensate these State-owned Power Plants or fix some relaxed technical parameters to these power plants,” the draft amendment explained.

The commission pointed out that it was pertinent to note that the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) through a letter dated March 15 this year, addressed to the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission suggested “relaxed operational parameters” for the thermal power stations being operated at part load “to absorb the RE power”.

A senior Tangedco official said that to absorb the wind and solar generation, the thermal power station generation was reduced or increased according to the needs, and also shut down at times.

“To restart generation in the thermal power plant, oil would be used to ramp up generation which leads to increased cost of generation. The ramping up and down of the coal-based thermal power plant results in the increased consumption of coal and oil which increases the cost of generation,” the official said.

“The proposed amendments would help the utility reduce losses.”