Yermarus unit ready for commercial generation.

The first generating unit of the newly set up Yermarus Thermal Power Station (YTPS) on Wednesday achieved a milestone by being ready to commence commercial operation. The unit with a capacity of 800 MW will begin generation as soon as the station gets coal linkage.

The power station requires 22,000 tonnes of coal a day. Officials are making efforts to get coal allocation at the earliest. Remaining infrastructure such as ash-handling facility and railway siding would also have to be established before the unit could begin commercial generation.

The readiness for commercial operation was announced after the first unit generated at a capacity of 813.2 MW for 72 hours from 10.56 p.m. on March 4 to 10.56 p.m. on March 7 as part of various tests involved in the process.

The YTPS, which has come up on 1,126 acres of land on the outskirts of Raichur, has used supercritical technology which not only increases the operational efficiency but also reduces heat rate. G. Kumar Naik, managing director, Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd., told reporters that this was the third power station in the country after Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh stations that had adopted such a technology.

Mr. Naik, while congratulating the officials who worked on the project, said the second unit with 800 MW capacity would also begin commercial generation at the earliest.

The high-tech machinery used at the station would increase the operational efficiency by 9%, he said. He said the heat rate of the machines was below 8% compared with other units. The coal consumption would automatically get reduced if the heat rate was low, he added. As many 320 men are required to generate 800 MW of power every day.

Mr. Naik said suitable employment was being provided to those who had lost their land for the power station. Of the 259 land-losers, 142 had applied for jobs. Of them, 78 applicants had been offered jobs and the remaining applications were under verification, he added.

THE HINDU