Overcoming the present power crisis in the State hinges upon the speedy completion of key power projects, including the North Chennai Thermal Power Station that could fetch 4,576 MW of power to Tamil Nadu, many of which were to have been operational by now but have been delayed.NTPS: 1,200 MWThe works for the North Chennai Thermal Power Station with a capacity of 1,200 MW (Stage-II, 2 x 600 MW), began by July 2008 at an estimated cost of `4,650 crore. While the first unit was scheduled to have begun operations this month, the second unit was expected to start work this November. However, the deadlines have been revised several times and both the units are now expected to become operational only by January next. MTPS: 600 MW Similarly, the third stage of the Mettur Thermal Power Station (1 x 600 MW) — the work for which began in 2007 at an estimated cost of `3,100 crore — was originally scheduled to be operational by July 2011. Now, the project is expected to see the light of the day only by March 2012. Vallur plant: 1,500 MW The first unit of the Vallur Thermal Power Project (3 x 500 MW, Stages I and II), a joint venture of the TNEB-NTPC at a cost of `8,444 crore, is scheduled to be operational by October 2011 and the second unit by December 2011. The third unit is expected to generate power by November 2012. Tuticorin plant: 1,000 MW Likewise, the TNEB-NLC thermal project at Tuticorin (2 x 500 MW) at a cost of `4,909 crore was originally scheduled to produce power by March (Unit I) and August (Unit II) 2012, respectively. However, the cut-off date for work completion and power production has now been rescheduled to September and December 2012. Besides these projects, co-generation plants (183 MW) and small hydel projects like the Bhavani Kattalai Barrage and Periyar Viagai (93 MW) could propel Tamil Nadu out of the dark.Only if these projects — which together could bring in 4,576 MW of power — are completed at the very least by their revised deadlines, could the load shedding and unscheduled power cuts be halted. According to sources, BHEL is primarily responsible for the delay in project execution. “The PSU has the engineering, procurement and construction turnkey contract. Supplies were slowed down considerably by them especially during the last year. They had to focus on the Commonwealth Games besides a whole lot of other projects throughout the country. Now, the situation is getting better and we are hopeful of early completion of all the projects,” an official told Express. Power evacuationAlongside completing projects, finishing the setting up of overhead lines and other support infrastructure to evacuate power from the new generating stations is also crucial towards bridging the demand and supply gap.
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