Chennai in darkness as power units trip again

Two units of the North Chennai Thermal Power Station, the two Ennore power plants and the four Neyveli units tripped causing severe power disruption in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts, affecting more than 90 per cent of these areas.

The Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, saddled with the task of restoring power supply had to regroup itself completely after the second power tripping. Even after hours of the power tripping on Tuesday, most areas continued to remain in darkness.

Except for the sub-stations and the major hospitals there was virtually no power supply anywhere in the city. TNEB officials were hopeful of sorting out the problem by the early hours of Wednesday. TNEB engineers at the Load Despatch Centre in Chennai were working round-the-clock grappling with the network and trying to adjust power from the Mettur and Tuticorin thermal power stations and the state’s hydel reserves.

The power disruptions began on Monday evening, in the city and surrounding areas due to tripping of the four power stations in North Chennai, Ennore, Kalpakkam and Neyveli. By early hours of Tuesday, power was restored to about 50 per cent of the affected areas.

TNEB officials told The Indian Express that, the coal stock at the Neyveli power station I and II, with installed capacities of 600 MW and 1470 MW respectively, became moist due to the recent heavy rains and consequently, there was less power generation in these units. The moist coal was not fit for use and the four units at Neyveli became inoperable.

Due to the trippings, several parts of Chennai reeled under power cuts for most part of the day. Traffic signals at several points in the city did not work and harried traffic cops were seen regulating the peak hour traffic with difficulty. EMU services were disrupted for several hours, causing hardship to commuters.