AGARTALA, July 20 (TIWN): Leaving no stone unturned towards adding feather to the surplus power of Tripura one of the most successful plants of the regional body the North East Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO) had kicked off generating another additional 46 Mega Watt (MW) of power from the plant at R C Nagar. Besides, the NEEPCO had planned to start commercial generation of power from the plant by August this year, said head of Project (HoP) Subrata Saha. Talking to TIWN on Monday Saha informed that NEEPCO has recently got the Commercial Operation Declaration (COD) clearance and are now planning to start the commercial practise by the month of July. Adding to that he said, “Prior to start the commercial generation we have planned to kick off some testing of the turbines from where the power would be generated and is generating currently.” The entire process would begin from July 22 before starting the commercial generation, he said. NEEPCO has recently installed two broiler turbines and switched on newly implanted turbines producing 46 MW of power from the existing plant at R C Nagar. However, as per the DPR an estimated Rs. 192 crore was earmarked to add 46 MW power at NEEPCO’s R C Nagar power plant.

Asked about the current power generation status Das said four existing power units at the plant have been generating 82 MW of power against 84 MW installed capacity.

He also said that the management is in touch with the GAIL authority to get the required gas towards generating maximum power.

The newly installed steam turbine will be switched with full load on July 22 and will continue for 72 hours as per the COD guideline. Once the turbine runs for 72 hours successfully, the NEEPCO will be able to start commercial production of the newly installed steam turbine at R C Nagar plant.

The steam turbine is supposed to produce 25 MW power as per the plan. Although another 25 MW steam turbine is running partially, it will take time to put on commercial production, said NEEPCO official.

At the meantime the NEEPCO run Monarchak Power Plant under Sonamura Sub Division has recently undergone complete shutdown due to the sudden suspension of gas from the ONGC. However according to the official the ONGC haqs planned to recover its old existing gas and aims to resume its supply to Monarchak power plant run by natural gas.

The official also said that by mid-August the ONGC is expected to supply the gas but the possibility is very less, said the official source.

It is to be note that RC Nagar power plant is one of the finest thermal power projects of the NEEPCO. North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO) is an electricity generation public sector undertaking owned by the Government of India under the Ministry of Power, formed on 2 April 1976 to plan, investigate, design, construct, generate, operate and maintain power stations in the North Eastern Region of the country. It has 55% of total installed capacity of North east region, which is 1130 MW.