KTPP 2nd stage goes on stream

The commissioning of this project comes as a great relief for Telangana State which has been buying power from outside at huge costs

Hyderabad: The much-awaited second stage of Kakatiya Thermal Power Project (KTPP) with 600 MW installed capacity, at Bhupalapalli in Warangal district, has been officially commissioned and also commenced power generation on Thursday.

With this, the total installed capacity of power in both thermal and hydel has gone up to 4,700 MW. The commissioning of this project comes as a great relief for Telangana State which has been buying power from outside at huge costs. The government is spending nearly Rs 200 crore every month on purchasing power to meet the increasing energy demand in industrial and domestic sectors.

The project has been synchronised with the grid in its full capacity in October last week and the trial runs were being made for the last one month.

“Now, the project is officially commissioned,” TS Genco Director (projects) C Radha Krishna told The Hans India on Thursday. He said boilers in the thermal unit were lighted up on December 4 for the commercial generation of power.

Initially, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao planned to inaugurate the project. However, as election code in force due to biennial election to 12 Local Bodies for Council’, he has put off its formal commissioning.

However, the Chief Minister instructed the TS Transco authorities to start power generation immediately in view of the increased power demand and also financial burden through purchasing power at higher prices from various private companies.

The works at another thermal project with two units of 800 MW at Jaipur in Adilabad district, taken up by the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), are in progress and the plants will go on trial run in February 2006, and will be commissioned by June.

The Transco officials said the KTPP and Jaipur projects would help the State in overcoming the power crisis next year by meeting nearly 70 per cent of power demand.

To improve the grid connectivity, proposal to construct 400 KV double circuit line from Suryapet in Nalgonda district to Shankarpally in Ranga Reddy district has been finalised. It was taken up as part of linking national and southern grids to improve power supply network in the State.

By:Patan Afzal Babu