OTPC PLANT / PALATANA, December 13 (TIWN): Ever since the inauguration of Commercial Generation from the 726.6mw Combined Cycle Gas Turbine(CCGT) Thermal Power Plant of OTPC, the Unit-I created history at around 11.15am on Friday as the generation from the Unit-I touched 375mw, the highest so far from this unit. The base load capacity of unit I is 363.3mw. But Friday OTPC created history by producing 375mw from its first unit , far more than its highest capacity base load. An OTPC engineer told this correspondent on Friday night over phone," Naturally engineers and technicians are happy after achieving this feat. It was 11am when the generation crossed its limit of 363.3mw and at 11.15am it touched 375mw. For almost 10 minutes it remained the same. But even after that the generation didn't reduce less than 370mw throughout Friday and that too is a record.When asked about the reason behind this excessive generation an OTPC official said,"

Actually for the last three or four days the temperature here is around 12°C to 13°C. And during these conditions the capacity of Gas Turbine increases and  the increased capacity of Gas Turbine also boosts up the production of Steam Turbine.

As a result of this production from the Unit-I was on a high note from Tuesday. But today at 11.15am it touched 375mw and frankly speaking throughout Friday power generation from Unit-I was never below 370mw." 

It is to be mentioned here that on 29th September 2005 the then Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh laid the Foundation Stone of this mega power plant at Palatana involving an investment of Rs 10000 crore, the largest investment in the entire North-East. On 21st June 2013 President of India Pranab Mukherjee dedicated the Unit-I to the nation inaugurating the Commercial Generation. On 1st December this year Prime Minister of Indian dedicated the Unit-II to the nation. 
          Meanwhile the planned shutdown in the Unit-II of this plant continues on Friday. It is learnt that the shutdown will continue for an few more days. After this the experts of BHEL will go for another shutdown purely because of Trial Run. And TIWN sources add that unless Power Selling agreement from Unit-II is signed , it will be difficult for the technical experts to start the Commercial Generation from Unit-II. f everything goes well Commercial Generation is likely to start from January next year though the exact date is yet to be announced.