Industrial Econmoist Nov issue depicts how Tamil Nadu is no longer power deficit, turns largest energy surplus state

1. GIM 2019
16 Industrial economist NOVEMBER 2018
In the road shows of TN Global Investors’ Meet 2019, the comfort
in power availability for the state has been projected as a positive.
Comfort in power
Curtain Raiser
S Viswanathan
With an installed capacity of 29,000 MW that includes
11,000 MW of renewable energy, the state can be termed a
power-full state. Significantly, 2018 summer witnessing peak
demand passed without any power outage.
Tamil Nadu was among the earliest to tap the potential for
power. The state is not endowed much with natural resources;
the major exception is the rich availability of lignite. Right from
the 1950s, the lignite reserves around Neyveli have been tapped
to generate large quantum of power. Significantly, Tamil Nadu
was the earliest to complete 100 per cent electrification of vil-
lages. This has helped agriculture.
TN, the nuclear power leader...
The state is the leader in tapping non-conventional
energy sources. With 9000 MW of installed capacity, TN
accounts for the largest share of wind power. The Madras
Atomic Power Station, Kalpakkam, was among the earliest
to set up capacity for atomic energy. The Kudankulam
plant with a capacity of 2000 MW is the largest nuclear
power plant. With the planned addition of another 2000
MW, TN would account for 31 per cent of total capacity.
In a detailed interview Vikram Kapur, Chairman & Managing
Director, Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation
Ltd (TANGEDCO), dealt with the strengths of the state in assur-

2. Industrial economist NOVEMBER 2018 17
GIM 2019
ing power supply. The mantle involves not just
of quantity but also of quality and reliability of
supplies, to work on continuous augmentation
of capacity as also to improve transmission,
distribution and overall efficiency of operations.
A complex task for the energy manager...
The demand for power is presently 14,500 MW.
This is met through the state’s own power sta-
tions at North Madras, Mettur and Tuticorin.
The state also has long-term and medium-term
contracts with private power producers. Kapur
referred to the complexity of managing these
different sources of supplies with varying power
load factors. Certain plants are available for lim-
ited duration. Central power stations account
for a committed capacity of around 6000 MW to
the state but supply only around 3000-3500 MW.
Often the state doesn’t get the expected supplies
when needed. It is thus a complex task for the
energy manager to operate the grid.
Tamil Nadu has 2300 MW of hydropower ca-
pacity and 560 MW of capacity run on gas. But
availability from these is not steady. Thus the
reliability is mostly on the state-owned utili-
ties at the three clusters of Chennai, Mettur and
Tuticorinaccountingfor4320MW.Runningthese
plants at full capacity requires 72,000 tonnes of
coal per day. Most of that coal comes from the
Talcher and Mahanadhi coalfields in Odisha and
some from West Bengal. Around 2 per cent of the
enormous demand is met by imports.
In recent years the Centre had substantially
streamlined production of coal by Coal India
and imports had significantly reduced. How-
ever, in past months there have been shortfalls
in supplies committed by Coal India as alsodue
to transport bottlenecks. Remember, transpor-
tation involves movement by rail to Paradip or
Haldia ports and by ship to Chennai and Tutico-
rin ports and again transfer by rail to the north
Madras and Mettur power plants. Supplies get
disrupted due to flooding of mines in Odisha.
Coal imports on most favourable terms
TANGEDCO has placed orders for importing 1.7
million tonnes. Of these recently it imported
1.10 lakh tonnes. Kapur mentioned efforts
made to procure coal through e-tender- cum
-reverse auction process. In this the company
has been able to pay much lower negotiating
for the lowest of the bids through auction: “this
is internet-based. We don’t display even who
were all bidding. This is the cheapest rate for
coal paid by any utility in the country resulting
in huge savings. Import of coal has a low ash
content of just around 6-7 per cent against 35 per
cent plus in domestic coal. Thus, the calorific
value of imported coal is much higher with
much less ash. We blend the imported coal with
domestic to get optimum output,” said Kapur.
After a lull of two years, the state is coming
with an encouraging policy for rooftop solar
power. Kapur said the TANGEDCO fully sup-
ported rooftop solar and is removing capacity
constraints at the distribution transformer level.
He pointed to the technical issue involved in the
Central power
stations
account for
a committed
capacity of
around 6000
MW to the
state but
supply only
around 3000-
3500 MW.
Often the state
doesn’t get
the expected
supplies.
It is thus a
complex task
for the energy
manager to
operate the
grid.
Mettur Thermal Power Station
TN, with installed capacity of around 9000 mw,
is the leader in wind energy

3. GIM 2019
18 Industrial economist NOVEMBER 2018
Curtain raiser - NCTPS
I visited TANGEDCO’s north Chennai thermal power station
(NCTPS) on 09 October. It was a delight to watch the second
600 MW unit re-lighted a few hours earlier, revving up capacity.
Unit 1 was already operating at a plant load factor of around 76
per cent.
The North Chennai region around Vallur is power-full. The
two stages of NCTPS were running to a capacity of 1830 MW
with the stage III busy adding another unit of 800 MW capacity
expected to be commissioned by the end of next year. Nearby,
the NTPL unit, TANGEDCO’s joint venture with NTPC, has
capacity of 1500 MW (3x500). At Kattupalli SEZ, two more
units, each 660 MW, are taking shape. M Senthilvel, Chief
Engineer, Stage II, referred to the consistently high performance
of the units of NCTPS. These units meet half the power needs of
Chennai metro.
The units consume around 20,000 tonnes of coal a day and
generate about 7000 tonnes of fly ash that feed cement plants
nearby as also used as landfill and for road construction.
A walk around the station revealed smooth operations man-
aged by young engineers with a good complement of women.
From the top of the boiler rising over 15 storeys provided a
panoramic view of the Ennore and Kattupalli ports, the sea on
the east, other thermal stations around and also the backwaters.
The NCTPS is giving employment to 844. Despite such a vast
quantity of coal pulverized and burnt at about 1350 deg C, the
operating environment was clean!
transformer at the street corner providing pow-
er and at the same time evacuating it! He also
pointed to the problem of managing energy ramp
up during the day and ramping it down in the
evening when the sun goes down. This demands
flexibility through gas-based or hydel power sta-
tions. It is of particular concern to Tamil Nadu,
which doesn’t have a large capacity of hydel and
gas stations.
Kapur pointed to the expansion of capacity
progressing at North Madras and new stations
at Uppur and Udangudi. Over the next couple of
years, new capacity will get added and help meet
increase in demand of around 5 per cent per
annum. Power Finance Corporation, Rural Elec-
trification Corporation and NABARD have been
providing the necessary funding. The UDAY
scheme has also helped reduce the debt burden
to the extent of around Rs 22,000 crore. The com-
pany is endeavouring to increase solar pump
sets that would help reduce the subsidy burden
on providing power free to agriculture. Despite
an increase in costs there has been no increase in
tariff over the last four years, pointed out Kapur.
IOC’s gas terminal at Ennore with the poten-
tial to supply five million tonnes of natural gas
p.a. can also be a game changer. Kapur pointed
to the 120 MW power station at Basin Bridge
presently run on naphtha. This has been a
standby source of power to run essential ser-
vices for secretariat, hospitals, etc., in times of
emergency. The clean energy will also be envi-
ronment-friendly.
There is the promise of availability. The at-
tention to augmenting power generation and
distribution adroitly is accompanied by stepped
up investments in transmission and distribu-
tion. This is especially welcome. n
Thoothukudi Thermal Power Station
North Chennai Thermal Power Station Stage-II
(2 x 600 MW)