Sale of dry ash rises to over Rs 14 crore a month this fiscal year

CHENNAI: Tangedco earned an average Rs 14.15 crore a month by selling dry ash this fiscal year (till November). Last fiscal, the average monthly sales stood at Rs 10 crore, according to data released by the utility.  

A senior Tangedco officer told TNIE that the utility’s five coal-fired thermal power plants—North Chennai Stages I and II, Mettur Stages I and II, and Thoothukudi—have a total installed capacity of 4,320MW. As per norms, 20% of the dry ash generated in these power plants is given to brick manufacturers for free and the rest is sold through a tender process. “To increase the revenue from ash sale, we have upgraded machines, resolved problems with ash handling, and improved ash collection.”

Another official said the revenue from selling dry ash from Mettur plants in 2021-2022 was Rs 47.82 crore, which is Rs 8.6 crore higher than 2020-21’s sales figures, because Mettur unit I was in continuous service for 117 days starting December 22, 2021.

This apart, ash from Mettur plants is better than that from other plants due to the use of river water, he claimed, mentioning that the plants in Tiruvallur and Thoothukudi used seawater.