UDAIPUR, July 8 (TIWN) : The Unit-I of OTPC's 726.6MW Combined Cycle Gas Turbine(CCGT) Thermal Power Project, Palatana is now having major problems in its Gas Turbine and as a result of it more than three or fiur times the plant is suffering from trip( when power generation automatically stops), said a top level OTPC engineer. The engineer also told TIWN over phone on Monday midnight that to solve the problem OTPC sent an SOS to General Electric(the Gas Turbine Manufacturing Company) and accordingly an expert namely Orgis Kuruvilla has arrived in Palatana on Monday evening from Kerala.

Now the expert will go through an inspection (tuning procedures) of the Gas Turbine. And if the ongoing problems are not resolved, the entire Unit-I may face serious crisis, adds the engineer. It is learnt that since last Friday midnight some problems arose that caused problems in power generation from the Gas Turbine( generally capable of generating 200-220MW power) . Actually since Friday midnight whenever the load is being  increased from 120 MW the Unit-I is having automatic trips. According to TIWN sources, " Actually when the load is increased, the Combustion Mode needs to be changed to the next level.

 But ever since the recent problem arose the plant is facing trips as soon as the load is increased beyond 120MW. And from Saturday morning the plant has faced more than 12 times trips (in Gas Turbine)." Luckily the expert has arrived and according to TIWN sources,  Orgis Kuruvilla started to settle the problem from 10.45pm (Monday).

    However, the expert cannot solve the problem overnight as the total operation is monitored via video conferencing instructions given from General Electric Company's Headquarters in Atlanta, USA. And the the connectivity with the Headquarters is yet to be done as the root of the problems still remain to be identified. Moreover, Combustion Control Unit of Gas Turbine has not been connected with the local mechanism (inside the plant). Hopefully is the connectivity is done by late Moday night, inspection parameters will be sent from Atlanta. Thus it may take two or three days to settle things down, said TIWN sources. After the Combustion Tuning if the current problems are solved, power generation from Gas Turbine will be increased gradually.

      Meanwhile upto the lattest updates OTPC is generation 190MW from the Unit-I (at 11.23pm) and out of it 180 MW is supplied to the National Power Grid,  Bongaingaon. But if the problems are not resolved by Tuesday early morning another trip is on the cards. However, a top level OTPC official confirmed TIWN correspondent ," The Gas Turbine will go through its major Inspection from 3rd of August to 18th August. Generally after 8000 hours of operation Gas Turbine goes through such Inspection.

 And Major Inspection takes at least 15 days. During these 15 days the total Unit-I will have complete shut down." It means that the state will again face acute power crisis from the first week of August to the third week of the month. It is to be mentioned here that only in May-June (upto 2nd June) the people of Tripura and other parts of North-Eastern states suffered from acute power crisis as the Unit-I went through Performance Guarantee Test (PGT). And the scheduled Major Inspection in Gas Turbine only will add to the miseries.