The Centre informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday that there was a long delay in the execution and commissioning of the 5×800 megawatt Yadadri Thermal Power Station (YTPS) in Telangana and the first two units of the super-critical ultra-mega power plant were likely to be commissioned in December this year.
In response to a question raised by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member from Telangana, K. Laxman, Union Minister of Power R.K. Singh stated that the physical progress of work on the five units was ranging between 72% and 81% as on July 31. Although all the five units should have been commissioned by October last year, there was time overrun for all the five units.
Mr. Singh further stated that even if all the five units were commissioned as per the anticipated schedule, the time overrun in their commissioning would be from 2 years two months to 2 years six months. The original (initially planned) date of commissioning of the first two units was October 2021, next two units was June 2022 and the fifth unit October 2022.
As per the anticipated schedule of commissioning informed by the developer, Telangana State Power Generation Corporation (TS-Genco), fourth unit was likely to be commissioned in August 2024, third unit in September 2024 and the last unit in April 2025.
On Sunday, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao told the Assembly that the commissioning of YTPS units would begin in 4-5 months. He attributed the delays to false cases filed by some persons in the green tribunal, on account of non-availability of workforce due to the COVID-19 pandemic in two spells and the hurdles created by Centre by instructing the finance agencies – Power Finance Corporation and Rural Electrification Corporation – to hold back release of loan instalments for against the works completed.
Coal production
The Union Power Minister also stated that most of the coal requirements for power generation in the country were being met by indigenous production and in 2022-23 the production had increased by 14.77% compared to the previous year. In the current year (2023-24), the coal production was up by 8.51% in the first quarter compared to the same period last year.
The coal production target set for the current fiscal was 1,012.14 million tonnes including 70 million tonnes by Singareni Collieries. Supply of domestic coal to power plants in 2022-23 was 738 million tonnes and it would be 821 million tonnes this fiscal.
