NTPC restarts operations of closed units of Kaniha plant

After getting the nod of the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB), the NTPC authorities have restarted the operation of the three units of 500 Mw each of the 3000 MW Kaniha power station which were shut down following a closure order of the board while keeping another unit idle for annual maintenance.

NTPC can operate its units till August 31, the period till which the SPCB has kept its order in abeyance.

"We have got the order of the SPCB and restarted operations from the closed units. Presently, four 500 MW units- Unit 3, 4,5 and 6 are running while Unit 2 has been shut down for annual maintenance. The first unit which developed technical snags today was taken out of operation temporarily,” said R Venkateswaran, regional executive director, NTPC.

Siddhant Das, member secretary, SPCB said, “The pollution board has decided to keep its closure order in abeyance till August 31 and this has been communicated to the NTPC authorities. NTPC can operate the shut units till August 31 after which we will take a call on whether the closure order will be revoked.”

The shutting down of the NTPC-Kaniha units had plunged four southern states- Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka into a power crisis as these states drew 2000 MW from this 3000 MW power plant.

On last Monday NTPC's chairman and managing director Arup Roy Choudhury had called on state Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and committed a 40-km pipeline for carrying ash to coal mine void as a long-term measure for ash management.

The power major, which has drawn flak for its inefficient ash management, had promised to submit a detailed report every fortnight on the environment impact of the power station.

Besides, NTPC had assured the SPCB officials to repair the slipped ash pond completely by August 15 this year.

The SPCB on June 28 had slapped a closure direction on four units (4x500) of the power plant. The closure direction followed the sliding of one of ash dykes of the company's ash pond on June 2.

After the subsidence and breach of lagoon-II of Stage-I of NTPC Kaniha over stretch of 200 metres, a thorough inspection was carried out by the officials of SPCB.

The pollution board officials concluded that no storage volume for ash disposal beyond October this year would be available if all the units of the power plant are allowed to operate.

The 3000 MW power station when running at full capacity generates around 20,000 tonnes of ash every day.