The fall in the wind power generation coincided with the thermal power plants facing a coal shortage and some of the centre- and state-owned plants not functioning due to yearly maintenance.
Tamil Nadu is staring at a major power crisis with Tangedco, the state-owned power utility, facing a severe coal shortage at a time when the wind power generation is coming to an end.
When the wind power generation suddenly dropped last week, Tamil Nadu witnessed unscheduled power cuts across the state for the first time since 2015. The wind power season, which beings in May lasts till the onset of North East Monsoon in October. But on September 9, the wind power generation suddenly fell from 3,000 MW to zero and generation continued to remain low for the next few days, raising alarm bells among power managers.
The fall in the wind power generation coincided with the thermal power plants facing a coal shortage and some of the centre- and state-owned plants not functioning due to yearly maintenance. "Supply of coal from the mines was hit by rains. No coal supply for a week led to the buffer coal stock at the thermal power plants running out. Besides, two 1,000 MW units of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant were not in operation. This led to a crisis on September 9 and 10," a senior Tangedco official said.
Power demand, which was hovering at around 14,000 MW last week, has come down drastically thanks to widespread rain across the state, including Chennai. "Wind power generation has picked up on Monday. We have backed down thermal power plants to evacuate more wind energy," the official said.
But the crisis is far from over considering that the state-owned thermal power plants in North Chennai, Mettur and Tuticorin have coal storage that would last from three to six days.
"Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has agreed to send 16 rakes of coal per day to Tamil Nadu, up from about 13 rakes that we are receiving," Electricity Minister P Thangamani said after meeting Goyal at his office in New Delhi on Tuesday. He said that he has sought 20 rakes a day to build up the stock of coal as the wind power generation would end in October
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