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NTPC’s Ramagundam Thermal Power Plant Resumes Operations

  • NTPC’s power plant in Andhra Pradesh, which saw production slipping by as much as 50% in September, has resumed operation at full capacity, according to a Bloomberg UTV exclusive. Sources tell Bloomberg UTV that NTPC’s Ramagundam thermal power plant is back in full swing as the company resumed generating the 500 megawatt shortfall that it started facing September 2011 onwards. The shortfall was due to shortage of coal supply from the Singareni collieries. The 2600-megawatt Ramagundam plant, which supplies power to the southern states, mainly Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, saw capacity falling to 2080 megawatt, as low as 50% of its full capacity in September, when the coal supply from Singareni collieries was stalled.
  • In fact, NTPC in a response to Bloomberg UTV’s query, said that Ramagundam plant did face some fuel supply shortage in the month of September -October 2011 due to general strike at Singereni. Currently the plant is operating at a plant load factor (PLF) of 90% on an average. Plant load factor is the ratio of actual output capacity of a plant to its installed capacity. Sources said this increase in capacity comes at a time when the southern states together are seeing a power shortage of around 20%. Moreover, discoms of states like Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are asking for a 40% tariff hike. There were also talks of the Simhadri plant seeing a shortfall of 300 megawatt due to shortage of supply from Singareni, which too sources said the company has started generating.
  • Simhadri was not hit as it sources major chunk of its fuel from the Mahandi coal fields. For Simhadri project, which generates 1500 megawatt, 1000 megawatt is supplied to Andhra Pradesh, while power generated from the second phase is supplied to Southern Grid.At 12:40, the company's stock was at Rs 176, down 0.17% on the BSE.

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