Snag hits thermal unit trial run
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Chandrapura thermal Power Station

Ranchi, May 27: Desperate attempts to commission Unit VIII of Chandrapura Thermal Power Station (CTPS) has received a fresh setback with the mandatory 14-day trial run being discontinued following a leak in the boiler tube.

The DVC management had recently assured the Supreme Court through an affidavit that the unit would be commissioned by the first week of next month. Top officials are, however, non-committal now.

Unit VIII was originally slated for commissioning in March 2007 whereas Unit VII in January 2007. But the units, which have an installed capacity of 250MW each, ran into rough weather several times for various reasons.

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited was awarded the turnkey contract.

When repeated requests to people sitting at the helm of affairs could not make these units functional, the Delhi discoms filed a civil suit in Supreme Court against DVC. The DVC management, consequently, informed the apex court that Unit VIII would be commissioned by the first week of June and Unit VII by the first week of July.

All India Power Engineers Federation chairman Padamajit Singh, in his letter to Bharat Heavy Electricals CMD, said the trial run had begun on May 3 and was discontinued on May 14. He added that the the failure to revive the unit was a matter of serious concern since the DVC had already made commitments in court.

He also demanded that the mandatory 14-day run be done before commissioning. Copies of this letter have been sent to the Union cabinet secretary, power secretary, Planning Commission’s member (energy) and chiefs of Central Electricity Authority and DVC.

Speaking to The Telegraph, CTPS chief engineer Rameshwar Bansuri said repair work was on. “The leak will be plugged in 3-4 days. But I can not comment on how the trial run will be completed within the stipulated time,” he said.