Watch: Discarded cooling towers of thermal power station imploded in Kothagudem
Power plant complex shut down a few years ago, power producing sections razed to the ground too
Kothagudem: Eight cooling towers of the retired Kothagudem Thermal Power Station (KTPS) operation and maintenance (O&M) power plant at Paloncha in the district were imploded on Monday.
The retirement of the power plant was announced by Telangana State Power Generation Corporation Limited (TSGENCO) in March 2020 as per the instructions of union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change due to technical constraints, economical and environmental reasons.
The capacity of the units was deleted from the database of all India installed capacity on March 21, 2020. The O&M power plant was built with the technical assistance from Japan with sub-critical technology. The 130 metre high eight cooling towers were constructed for power generation of 720 MW from eight units at A, B and C power stations built in phases from 1965-67 to 78.
Tenders for dismantling the power plant and for clearing the ground were invited by Genco and a company HR Commercials got the contract for Rs 485 crore. The company started the dismantling process in January, 2023 and has already dismantled the power plant and demolished six 100 and 120-metre-high chimneys.
Permission to demolish the cooling towers was delayed as the model code was in force for the Assembly elections. With the demolition of the cooling towers the dismantling of the O&M power plant was complete and an extent of around 300 acres of land, on which the plant stood would be retrieved for the future utilisation by the Genco.
