The damaged ash dam did not distress the power production in the Korba station of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) as the fiscal 2011-12 ended with a good note.
The station produced 18030.297 million units (MUs) of power in the financial year 2011-12 despite most of its units remaining shut down for a significant portion of the year due to damage caused to the ash dyke. The station achieved 78.95 per cent Plant Load Factor (PLF) with an availability of 83.71 per cent during the period.
The station had produced 17249.516 MUs of power in 2010-11 and 17955.471 MUs in 2009-10 with the PLF of 93.10 per cent and 97.61 per cent respectively. The situation was however different in 2011-12 as the station plunged into a serious crises in the mid of the year when the ash dyke located near Dhanras village was damaged due to flood.
A few units in the 2650-Mw power station had to be closed down following the damage cause to the ash dyke. With the limited resources and meticulous plan, and strategy, the company managed to perform well in the overall production. “Besides, performance of the station in other parameters of operations and maintenance was also good,” company spokesperson said.
In addition to this, the station has done well in the utilisation of fly ash, taking the net utilisation cross 60 per cent mark.
Meanwhile, the station has expedited work in front of the new ash dyke on an about 400 acre of land and efforts were on to get the first lagoon ready very soon. A recent apex court judgment had also paved way for the company; making it clear for the power station to go ahead with the dyke construction.
The NTPC Korba is one of the stations of NTPC that produces power at the cheapest rate. The Korba project has completed more than 25 years of operation since the commercial operation declaration of its first unit way back in 1983.