NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI, OCT 1
NLC India has decommissioned its vintage 600MW Thermal Power Station-I (TPS-I) with the withdrawal of the last unit from service on September 30 as part of the company’s planned phase out process. “..we wish to inform that as part of retirement of Thermal Power Station I (6x50MW+3x100MW), Unit6 (50MW) has been withdrawn from service on September 30,” the company said in a statement.
The company officials commenced decommissioning activities since March this year and Unit 6 was decommissioned last evening, officials said.
The Thermal Power Station-I, which has been in service for more than 50 years, stands “fully decommissioned”, they said.
Officials said the total installed capacity of thermal power generation alone at NLC India was 3,140MW and including the joint venture projects it was 4,140MW.
According to NLC India, the TPS-I was the first unit to be synchronised in May 1962 and the power generated after meeting NLC India requirements, was fed into the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board which was its sole beneficiary.
Due to the aging of the equipment, the life extension programme was approved by the Centre and was successfully completed in March 1999.
The government had sanctioned a 2x500MW power project at the Neyveli New Thermal Power Plant as a replacement for Thermal Power Station-I, the statement added.
