Talwandi Sabo to miss deadline

Submitted by VK Gupta on Sat, 19/01/2013 - 5:28am

Talwandi Sabo thermal plant unit set to miss April 13 deadline
Umesh Dewan/TNS

Patiala, January 18
In what may be termed a major setback to the power corporation, the commissioning of the first unit (660 MW) of the Talwandi Sabo Thermal Plant is all set to miss the deadline of April 13. This will be second delay as the first unit of the plant was earlier scheduled to be commissioned on November 30 last year.

Though officials of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) are claiming that they have directed authorities of the Talwandi Sabo Power Limited (TSPL) to make the plant operational by April 13, highly placed sources in the power corporation have confirmed that it is likely to be delayed by four months.

The development assumes significance in wake of the fact that the non-commissioning of the first unit of 660 MW of the Talwandi Sabo Plant before the start of the paddy season (June 10) will make it very difficult for the PSPCL to manage the power demand during summer.

The 1980 MW Talwandi Sabo Thermal Plant was awarded to Vedanta Group Company M/s Sterlite Energy Ltd and subsequently, the TSPL was incorporated as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV).

However, noticing that the work will not be completed on schedule in 2012, the developer had requested the power corporation to extend the deadline to August 8, 2013.

The demand of the developer was rejected by the power corporation and on September 19 last year, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal had announced April 13 as the new deadline for the commissioning of the plant.

Though, after making inquiries at the ground level even at that time, The Tribune had carried a detailed news report mentioning that the first unit was not likely to get functional on the new deadline. However, the authorities kept maintaining that the unit will meet the deadline.

Meanwhile, PSPCL Director (Generation) GS Chhabra said, “During the recent review meeting, we have directed the developer to accelerate the work and complete the first unit by April 13.”

However, according to the sources in the power corporation, the work of setting up the chimney of the plant is presently on. “The work of the chimney’s concrete structure is expected to be completed by middle of February. After that, the work of the steel duct inside the chimney has to be done. Hence, a lot of ground has to be covered and the plant is unlikely to generate power before August,” said a senior official preferring anonymity.

Once the RCC structure of the chimney is complete, the flue (steel duct) will be set up. Then, the work for the final phase of the plant will get under way. According to the technocrats of the thermal design wing, it will take at least two months for the oil synchronisation of the plant and another two months for the coal-fire process. After that, the authorities will have to wait for the plant to stabilise before initiating the power generation process. If the coal-fire process gets completed by July, the plant will be operational only in August.