The third 800 MW supercritical unit at the Sri Damodaram Sanjeevaiah Thermal Power Station (SDSTPS) here goes on stream on Thursday, over three years behind schedule, giving some respite to Andhra Pradesh that has been facing a shortage of power during evening peak hours.
In a first in the country, the supercritical plant at Krishnapatnam gets water for its cooling towers through a specially-laid open channel from the Bay of Bengal, about five km away.
Meanwhile, there has been criticism from the opposition parties, which have alleged that the AP Power Development Corporation Limited (APPDCL) is in the process of privatising the entire SDSTPS operations.
The APPDCL, however, maintained that it was handing over “only maintenance” of the power plant to private parties.
Stage-1 of SDSTPS with 2×800 MW supercritical units was inaugurated by the then Union Minister for Power Piyush Goyal on February 27, 2016, who simultaneously laid the foundation stone for the Stage-2 800 MW supercritical unit.
The Stage-2 was targeted to be completed by 2019 but got delayed due to several factors, including Covid-19, according to the AP Power Generation Company Limited (AP Genco).
On June 26, 2019, Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy asked the AP Genco to reduce cost of the 800 MW unit and save money.
Stage-2 that was taken up at an estimated cost of Rs 5,600 crore has finally been completed at an expense of over Rs 8,100 crore, official sources in AP Genco said.
“In the last three years, the power utilities have saved Rs 4,925 crore through best practices and cost-effective power purchases. We could also reduce transmission and distribution losses from 3.10 per cent in 2018-19 to 2.83 per cent (till May 2022),” state Energy Minister P R C Reddy claimed.
The Stage-2 unit of SDSTPS has been synchronised with the grid on November 10 last year and achieved a maximum load of 137 MW. Subsequently, partial load trial operation was completed up to 308 MW.
AP Genco sources said stabilisation of the unit at the full load of 800 MW has been completed in the second week of this month.
While the two units of Stage-1 are supplying 39 million units of power a day, the Stage-2 unit will add 19 million units, enabling the state to overcome power shortage being experienced during evening peak hours.
