The power generation at Khaperkheda Thermal Power Station (KTPS) will resume this week as installation of a new conveyor belt of the coal handling plant is in the last stage. The conveyor belt was damaged in a massive fire that broke out on December 9. Chief Engineer of KTPS Raju Ghuge informed ‘The Hitavada’ that the restoration work was going on a war-footing. “As the conveyor belt is situated at the height of 60 metres, special cranes were called from Mumbai that took some time,” he said. He further claimed that the power generation would be started in the four Units of 210 MW each (total 840 MW) within the next three days.

 

When asked about the reason for the fire, Ghuge replied that the Fire teams inspected the spot and it would take some time to ascertain the exact reason behind the incident. It may be mentioned that the KTPS has a total of five generation units including one of installed capacity of 500 MW. The conveyor belt was badly damaged in a fire that lasted for an hour. Every power generation unit has a separate coal bunker for storage of coal.

 

The units were closed one by one after the bunkers ran out of coal after the fire. The 500 MW capacity unit was not affected in the fire as it has a special coal handling plant. As per the report of MahaGenco on Tuesday, the KTPS is showing just 267 MW of power while power generation at Koradi Thermal Power Station was 1813 MW. Chandrapur Thermal Power Station, another important coal-based power generation unit of MahaGenco in Vidarbha was operating at 1616 MW.