Koradi Thermal Power Station (KTPS) is located at Koradi near
Nagpur,
Maharashtra. The power plant is one of the four major power plants in
Vidarbha - a power surplus region of
India. The power station began operations in 1974 and is one of the nine active power stations operated by Maharashtra State Power Generation Company Limited (MahaGenco), a subsidiary of Government of Maharashtra owned Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB). The plant operates 7 units and has a total power generation capacity of 1080 MW. A proposed 440 kilovolt high power transmission line from Koradi to
Bhusawal would join Nagpur with
Mumbai. KTPS campus also contains training institute of MahaGenco for middle and senior level engineers, technicians and other staff.
Power Station:
KTPS is located on the northern side of Nagpur and is spread across an area of 30,337 sq km. Coal for KTPS comes from various nearby collieries of Western Coal Fields, Nagpur (WCL) located at Silewara, Pipla, Patansaongi, Kamptee, Inder, Walni, Gondegaon and
Saoner. These are at an average distance of 10 kilometres (6.2 mt) away. The plant approximately requires 16,000 to 17,000 tonnes of coal per day. The water for KTPS comes from water reservoir of nearby
Totaladoh hydroelectric power station. Also, Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) provides treated water from its sewerage treatment plant. According to MSEB, the average unit cost of power generation at KTPS is 6.28 paise/kW·h at 70 percent load factor while it is 13.52 paise/kW·h at 25 percent load factor. The average cost for transmitting this power to Mumbai is 1.26 paise/kW·h.
Since its commissioning, KTPS saw expansion in stages. First unit of 115 MW began in 1974. Later, three more units each of 115 MW, were added between 1975 and 1976 while 200 MW unit was added in 1978. Two more units, of 210 MW each, between 1982 and 1983. MSEB has finalized further expansion by increasing the capacity of 3 units to 660 MW thereby taking the total capacity of KTPS to 1560 MW. The work is expected to finish by 2014. Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) is expected to get equity participation by supplying important equipments in the INR8,000 crore (US$1.46 billion) expansion plan. In order to reduce air pollution the plant's units are equipped with electrostatic precipitators.
Thermal Power Research Center:
The Central Power Research Institute (CPRI) of Government of India, which serves as regulating body for testing of instruments and uploading of licenses in India, is going to set up a Thermal Research Centre (TRC) at Koradi. However, the KTPS expansion plans have created a problems in land acquisition for TRC.
