Kothagudem Thermal Power Station to sell old plants as scrap

As for the defunct units, a Mumbai-based company HR Commercials has won the bid to purchase the three plants, one of them dating back to 1966, as scrap at Rs 485 crore

Hyderabad: The Telangana State Power Generation Corporation Limited (TSGENCO) is dismantling outdated and unused old power generation units at the Kothagudem Thermal Power Station (KTPS) in Bhadradri Kothagudem district and selling them as scrap. The corporation will get about 400 acres of land, which will be used for further expansion plans.

As for the defunct units, a Mumbai-based company HR Commercials has won the bid to purchase the three plants, one of them dating back to 1966, as scrap at Rs.485 crore.

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The company has already paid an advance of Rs.144 crore to Genco to undertake the work. According to Genco officials, an agreement was reached to completely remove the three plants in three years and level the entire land and hand it over to Genco. After removing the three plants, Genco was expected to get about 400 acres of land, which would be used for the company’s expansion plans, officials said.

While the work started last month, the process of removing the conveyor belt that brings coal into the plant was almost completed and the iron and other metals were separated after cutting the massive structures, officials said, adding that in the first phase, the ‘A’ plant would be dismantled and later the remaining B and C plants would be removed.

The first phase of work was likely to be completed by June.

The first of the three power plants which were being dismantled were constructed with 60 MW capacity at Palvancha on September 4, 1966 at a cost of Rs.59.29 crore with Japan extending technical assistance. After that, the construction of B and C units was undertaken by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL). The first four plants were built with subcritical technology.

However, in a period of time, the technology being used in these plants became outdated and the power generation capacity also became low and the pollution was high. Due to this, the power generation from the old plants was gradually stopped. Thus, from February 2019 to March 2020, power generation from A, B and C units was stopped.

It was in the wake of this scenario that the Genco management decided to sell these three unused plants and invited bidding and HR Commercials bagged the contract.