CHENNAI: The TVK govt on Monday announced a Rs 20,800-crore project to establish a 1,600MW new supercritical thermal power station in Tuticorin, along with a Rs 33,066-crore plan to overhaul Tamil Nadu’s power transmission network.Making the announcements under Rule 110 in the Assembly, chief minister C Joseph Vijay said the state needed world-class power infrastructure to meet its growing economy and rising electricity demand.The proposed Tuticorin project will comprise two 800MW units and will be implemented under the public-private partnership (PPP) model.The new facility will gradually replace the existing five 210MW coal-fired units at the Tuticorin thermal power station, which have been commissioned in phases since 1979.“To effectively handle the continuously increasing power load and meet the growing demand, investments in the power generation sector are essential,” Vijay said.The govt said TN’s renewable energy capacity, including wind and solar power, was expanding rapidly, but generation from these sources was not available uniformly through the day.While battery storage capacity was being developed to store surplus renewable power for use during peak periods, thermal generation would continue to be required to ensure uninterrupted supply during periods of high demand.The transmission overhaul will include 196 new substations and 15,000km of new transmission lines, besides strengthening existing networks to evacuate power from generating stations to major consumption centres such as Chennai.For Chennai’s distribution network, the govt announced Rs 1,762 crore worth of works, including 36 new 33/11kV substations, new distribution transformers and replacement of ageing cables, conductors, pillar boxes and circuit breakers.“A comprehensive power infrastructure equipped with advanced technology is essential for Tamil Nadu’s growing economy and increasing power consumption,” the chief minister said.
