Santaldih Thermal Power Stn bags 1st spot in India, CM congratulates
KOLKATA: Adding another feather to the state's crown, the Santaldih Thermal Power Station of the state-owned West Bengal Power Development Corporation Limited (WBPDCL) has been ranked number one among all thermal power plants in the country in terms of power generation by the Ministry of Power's Central Electricity Authority (CEA).
This comes when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has given a call to make Bengal number one in industries and commerce. At the same time, Bakreswar Thermal Power Station has secured tenth rank among the best power stations in the country.
Expressing her gratitude for the success, the Chief Minister tweeted: "Happy to share that Santaldih Thermal Power station under WBPDCL has secured the top rank in All India Power Generation and Bakreshwar Plant secured the 10th rank out of all thermal power plants in India (April to August '21). Congratulations to all for this impressive feat!"
As per the ranking of the CEA, Santaldih Thermal Power Station ranked number one for its power generation in the period of April to August 21. In the same period, the thermal power station has achieved 92.79 per cent plant load factor (PLF) which stands highest in the country.
According to the sources in the state secretariat, the PLF of the thermal power station was only 69.63 per cent in between April to August 2020 and the power station had ranked 31 among all thermal power stations in the country.
With a series of steps taken by the state government, the power generation in the thermal power station started improving and came up as the country's third best thermal power station in April to July of this year.
According to the power generation between April and August 2021, the 500 MW-capacity power station at Santaldih of Para in Purulia - Santaldih Thermal Power Station - it had come up as the best thermal power station in the country with 92.79 percent PLF followed by Chhattishgarh's Korba Super Thermal Power Station with 92.55 percent PLF.
Bakreswar Thermal Power Station has come up as the tenth best among all in the country with 88.77 percent PLF as per the ranking of CEA.
This comes when the WBPDCL has achieved a record profit after tax of Rs 252 crore in 2020-21 financial year compared to that of only Rs 15.48 crore in 2019-20 fiscal. It became possible with the highest ever generation of power by WBPDCL since its inception. In the 2020-21 fiscal, the utility has recorded generation of 23.87 billion units of power exceeding the previous highest generation of 23.85 billion units in 2014-15.
Increase in both profit and power generation was an output of an improved operational efficiency with efficient handling of coal, checking of tube leakages and unit tripping, reducing demurrage.
