Badarpur power plant to start working soon

NEW DELHI: The Badarpur Thermal Power station is expected to start working this month as the ban on the plant has been lifted on March 1, General Manager, NTPC Badarpur, Chandan Chakarvorty, said. It was shut down in last October.

"Since October 17, the Badarpur power plant was shut as use of diesel generators was banned, and hundreds of brick kilns were ordered to stop production in Delhi under the GRAP. Only those brick kilns, which implemented the technology that helps reduce black carbon emission, were allowed to function," Chakarvorty said.

The GM said that boiler lit-up processes and monitoring of safety valve protections have been started. It will take a week to generate power now. He claimed that the authorities of the plant were complying with all the norms and had managed to limit the emission levels within the safe parameters.

According to Delhi government planning, the coal-based plant, considered a major source of air pollution in the city, needs to operate till the Tughlaqabad sub-station is commissioned to meet the city's summer demand.

Chakarvorty said that in the last summer season, Delhi witnessed an all-time peak demand for 6,526 MW of electricity. This peak demand was successfully met by the Delhi transmission and distribution system. Presently, there are two to three power generation units in Delhi like Bawana gas-based power plant (1,500 MW), Badarpur Power plant (705 MW) and Shakti Power plant. Still Badarpur Power stations produce at the rate of Rs 3.60 per unit though the plant gets costly coal from the Jharkhand coal mines.