First supercritical thermal plant in AP to go on stream today

Nellore: The first-of-its-kind supercritical thermal power station in public sector in the State, with two generating units of 800 MW each, at Nelaturu in Muthukur Mandal will be dedicated to nation today. Besides, foundation stone would be laid for another 800 MW unit in the same premises today.

Works for construction of the two units commenced in 2009 and the project was funded by Power Finance Corporation and KFW of Germany to the tune of Rs. 12,300 crore. Alstom, BHEL, Tata Consulting Engineers, Larsen and Turbo are part of the project. The project was basically designed for using 70 per cent of washed coal and 30 per cent of imported coal with gross calorific value of 4800 Kcal/KWH and 27.5 percent of ash content with a total consumption of 17764 tons of coal per day.

Coal is being supplied by Mahanadi Coal Fields, Odisha and is being shipped from Krishnapatnam port through pipe conveyor system for five kilometers. In a unique way, seawater is being directed taken from the Bay of Bengal through a process suggested by the IIT-Madras and still Genco is improving the procedure.

Plant has provision for connecting six tranmission lines at 400 KV, and currently two lines were connected to Manubole substation and another two to Chittoor substation. Cooling tower of 175 meters plays significant role in power production and it has been designed by a professor from Germany to sustain even during tough weather conditions like cyclones and other natural calamities.

Officials say levels of Sulphur Oxide (SoX) and Nitrogen Oxide (NoX) are currently under normal limits that indicate pollution-free generation and would go for Fuel Gas Desulphurization (FGD), the process which needs to lessen pollutants.