Unit I of Kudgi power plant to be synchronised this month

The first of the three units of the thermal power plant under phase-I at Kudgi, 42 km from Vijayapura, is all set to be synchronised later this month. The 800-MW unit will, however, start commercial production towards the end of this calendar year.

The 3X800 project is the NTPC’s first supercritical plant that uses lesser coal and water, while generating five per cent more power. Any unit with more than 600 MW power is considered supercritical. In the second phase, the NTPC is taking up a 2X800 MW project.

The State - which has given free land to the project - will get 50 per cent of the power generated at Kudgi. “Once fully operational, Karnataka will get 1,200 MW from first phase and 800 from second phase,’’ NTPC group general manager Balaji Iyengar said.

As many as 5,000 employees and 250 engineers and technicians are working round the clock to have the first unit going this months end. The second and third units will be synchronised after six months and one year, respectively. 

The steam-blowing work to clean the turbine, boiler and the pipes is on. The commercial production could slow down by a month or two if the State government further delays the physical handing over of 31 acres of land to the NTPC to lay the railway track to transport coal.

Subhasis Ghosh, regional executive director (west-I), NTPC, said Chief Secretary Arvind Jadhav had directed the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) to hand over the land by month-end. 

He was, however, confident that the coal required for the first unit could be transported even with a single railway track. “We can use the push-pull train to transport coal,” he said, adding that commercial production would begin as per schedule in September.

As much as 200 to 250 MW power that is generated during the trial will, however, be supplied free of charge to the utilising discoms.

Coal is being transported from the NTPC’s mine in Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh, and crushed to size at Ramagundam in Telangana. As many as 450 tonnes of coal per hour are required for one unit of the power plant.

Of the 3,500 acres acquired, 1,950 acres is used for actual project. The remaining land is used for setting up township (199 acres), reservoir (360 acres), fly ash and coal stocking area (1,000 acres), among others.

Fly ash management

The latest technology used by the NTPC ensures cent per cent capturing of the fly ash which is made into a thick paste using very little water. 

“We have already received expression of interest from 14 firms to utilise the fly ash,” Ghosh said.

The NTPC is also setting up a brick kiln at the project site so that bricks are produced from fly ash for the construction of its townships and office buildings.

Reservoir

The NTPC has already constructed a reservoir to store water for 45 days of its requirement. The State government has allocated 5.2 TMC water from Almatti in Krishna basin for the first and the second phases of the power plant. For the first phase, the government is releasing 3.2 TMC. The distance between the plant and the Almatti reservoir is 18 km and water is drawn through a pipeline.

This month, the government released just 0.05 TMC, because of drought. In April, no water will be released.

Jobs

C Kumar, Assistant General Manager (Human Resources) at the NTPC, Kudgi, says land losers will be given preference for floor-level jobs. An entrance test will be held for ITI and diploma holders on March 13, he said. Ghosh said locals will not be considered for recruitment for executive jobs as they will be done through national-level entrance tests.