UDAIPUR, May 20 (TIWN): Power crisis situation across the state has worsened as the scheduled activities in the build up to the OTPC's 726.6MW Combined Cycle Gas Turbine(CCGT) Thermal Power Plant in Palatana's 1st Unit Performance Guarantee Test(PGT) has been further delayed , said a high level TIWN source in OTPC on Tuesday night. OTPC's 1st unit(363.3MW is having 'Complete Shutdown' ahead of PGT since 17th May midnight and was scheduled to be operational from the midnight of 20th May but our source categorily said that the preparation period is unlikely to be completed before the midnight of 27th May as the BHEL engineers detected some major problems in various important equipments that demands urgent attention to be sorted out before the actual commencement of PGT,adds TIWN source.

It is now obvious that Tripura is going to be hit badly by power crisis for more than a week(to be precise upto 27th) and loadshedding situation too will get worsen inspite of the Tripura State Electricity Corporation Limited(TSECL)'s assurance of buying additional power of 50MW from National Thermal Power Corporation Limited(NTPCL) as the state's internal generation is now around 100MW. To make the matter worse the power generation in other hydal projects in the N-E region too is gradually decreasing everyday(due to decrease in water level), said an TSECL official(provided his name be kept hidden). Presently Tripura's Peak-Hour demand ranges from 240-245MW, said the TSECL official. And with shutdown in OTPC is leading to a severe crisis of power in Tripura and as such load shedding has now become quite frequent; even at day times TSECL is now giving two to three times power cuts( each time with a duration of not less than two hours) in such hot weather conditions.

   Meanwhile, on Tuesday afternoon two teams of BHEL's technical engineers arrived in Palatana from Hederabad and Thiruchherapally. Immediately the teams are learnt to have taken the full control of monitoring the preparation leading to PGT. The BHEL and OTPC technicians and engineers are on 24×7 hours duty. A BHEL engineer told TIWN Correspondent over phone ," Some minor problems are decked in the Heat Recovery Steam Generator(HRSG). Apart from this dust particles are found in the Gas Turbine. And the technicians have started to sort out these problems from Tuesday afternoon. " The engineer further added that ONGC has succeeded to remove Pressure Control Valves(PCV). And dust particles causing problems in the free flow of gas supply to the 1st Unit , too were successfully removed from the 52km Gas Pipe Line. Still there will be a delay in the commencement of PGT as BHEL engineers are yet to declare the 1st Unit ready for PGT.

    It is learnt that preparation will be completed by evening of 27th May. And by 27th midnight PGT is expected to commence. Once the PGT starts the plant will be run on full-load(363.3MW) . But even it does not give the assurance of the solution of power supply in the state(Tripura gets atleast 92MW from NERLDC as its share from OTPC) because there may be shutdown again if technical problems arises during PGT. TIWN source said that Performance Guarantee Test(PGT), which is a routine check up , will continue from 27th midnight to 30th May. And once the PGT starts first unit will be operational again. But we can say that it is highly impossible for the people of Tripura to get respite from power cuts with in this month as TSECL won't get its required amount of power unless the PGT is conducted successfully.