Agartala, July 11 (TIWN): The OTPC powered Palatana power plant is scheduled to undergo around 12 days’ shutdown in August as a part of a project, Inspection visit from the hardware suppliers, official sources said.

A delegation of the ONGC Tripura Power Company (OTPC) visited Power Minister Manik Dey. The team apprised the minister about practical problems faced by the plant’s first unit owing to which low generation was reported on several occasions.
A highly placed source inside the OTPC said this afternoon that a high level team with engineers from the General Engineering Company of the USA arrived here recently to initiate a final inspection visit. The plant has been generating much less than it’s installed capacity.
Asked about the issue, the source said that though rumours of major technical faults were spread, thermal power plants are usually known to generate less in extreme hot weathers. The generation goes up in the winter.
Speaking about the issue, Power Minister Manik Dey said later this afternoon, Power Minister Dey said that the Palatana plant is currently generating 340 MW against the installed capacity of 376 MW. The generation is expected to go up in the winter. He said that thefirst unit is slated to undergo a 12 days’ test shutdown from August01.
The 21 MW eighth unit of Rukhia thermal plant went out of generation recently after it was found to have exceeded its normal life cycle.
With gas supplies still unsure from ONGC for commissioning Palatana plant’s second unit, the ‘power surplus state’ now faces uncertainty of power supplies. Shortfalls are spiking as high as 60 MW with average power requirement in peak hours rising to 250 MW. If the situation continues, powercuts for 90 minutes on an average would be unavoidable, the Power Minister said.
ONGC CMD DK Saraf would be visiting Palatana plant during a visit scheduled on July 12. The ONGC chief would attend a Annual General Meeting (AGM) of OTPC during his visit as well, official sources said.