Construction of the State-V 800-Megawatt unit of the Dr. Narla Tatarao Thermal Power Station (NTTPS) is going on at a brisk pace.
It is likely to be commissioned by early 2019 as the Boiler, Turbine and Generator (BTG) and the Balance of Plant (BOP) work has been expedited by the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and the BGR Energy Systems Limited (BESL) respectively. Hundreds of workers from Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha aided by heavy machinery are striving to facilitate completion as per the schedule.
The project is estimated to cost nearly ₹5,500 crore and BHEL had won the bid for the crucial BTG component on Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPV) basis.
Officials of the AP-Genco, BHEL and BESL are monitoring the work to get the unit declared as commercially operational, which will signal the reaching of a major milestone in the history of this nearly 40-year-old plant. AP-Genco Director (thermal) M.P. Sunder Singh told The Hindu during a plant inspection on Wednesday that construction of the 275 meter-tall chimney had been completed up to 160 metres. Construction of the TG (turbine and generator) deck, the nearly 100-meter high boiler site and four electro-static precipitators have made substantial progress.
The shell of the natural draft cooling tower will be ready by the end of 2018. Construction of NTTPS’ 800 MW unit and the one of equal capacity at Damodaram Sanjeevaiah Thermal Power Station at Krishnapatnam is going in tandem, the latter being executed by the TATA Projects Limited.
The NTTPS is one of the few load-based thermal plants in the country and most others are established at places where fuel (coal) is available in close proximity.
