Latest news with #JRadhakrishnan
New Indian Express
20-06-2025
- Business
- New Indian Express
TNEB cuts annual losses to Rs 800 crore, reports Rs 70,000 crore revenue
VELLORE: The Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) has significantly reduced its annual losses to Rs 800 crore, down from previous years, says Managing Director J Radhakrishnan announced on Thursday. The board reported a revenue of Rs 70,000 crore this fiscal, aided by a Rs 17,000 crore subsidy from the state government and an additional Rs 17,000 crore allocated to offset losses. "Prudent financial management and government support have helped curtail losses," Radhakrishnan said during an inspection of the upcoming Government Multi-Specialty Hospital in Vellore, slated for inauguration by Chief Minister MK Stalin on June 25. He also confirmed that power connections and transformer setups for the Rs 150-crore hospital will be operational by inauguration day, with backup generator facilities in place. Additionally, a 230-kilowatt substation at Adukkamparai Government Hospital will be functional within three months. To prevent monsoon-related outages, TNEB plans to install three new substations in Vellore region, which currently requires 1,257 MW. Tamil Nadu's total power capacity stands at 14,800 MW, with the 1,320 MW Udangudi plant set for launch soon. The state leads nationally in wind and hydro power generation, with over 20,000 renewable energy sources, he added. TNEB has sought approval to install smart metres for 1.42 crore consumers, aligning with national initiatives. Radhakrishnan assured no tariff hikes for domestic users, citing CM Stalin's directive. The board will also address staff shortages through government-approved recruitment. "Agricultural and industrial growth owes much to uninterrupted power supply, propelling TN to India's second-largest industrial hub," he added. With pending projects now funded, TNEB aims to expedite pending works. Collector VR Subbulakshmi and senior officials accompanied the MD during the review.
The Hindu
04-06-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
Tantransco flags issue of outage of NLC units, affecting load balance
Tamil Nadu Transmission Corporation Limited (Tantransco) has flagged the issue of outage of NLC generation units, resulting in shortage of the State's power allocation from Central generating stations (CGS). Tamil Nadu is losing a share of 745 MW out of the 1,999 MW due to forced outages in May, Tantransco Chairman J Radhakrishnan said in a recent letter addressed to NLC India Ltd Chairman and Managing Director. 'In the recent past years, NLC complex units are maintaining less generation citing various reasons due to which Tamil Nadu is getting less schedule against the allocated share there by facing much hardships in maintaining its 'Load-generation' balance, ', he said. Tamil Nadu State Load Despatch Centre is facing much hardship to maintain load-generation balance especially during non-solar peak hours, Mr. Radhakrishnan said. He called for necessary immediate measures in long term perspective to rectify the outage and maintain full generation from NLC Complex units during the current summer period especially during non-solar peak hours. Tantransco has also pointed out that there was a schedule shortfall of 219 MW from the available running units during the lighting peak hours on May 12, resulting in total affected share of 964 MW out of 1,999 MW. Tamil Nadu grid faces 5 peaks namely morning peak, solar peak, evening peak, lighting peak and Air-Conditioned (AC) night peak. Presently, the solar peak and evening peak is being met through renewable energy sources, namely solar and wind in addition to other generators, as per the State Energy Department's policy note for 2025-2026. Shortage of resources is faced during the morning peak, lighting peak and AC peak especially during the months of February, March, April and May. After meeting the demand with available sources viz., Thermal, Hydro, Central Generating Stations (CGS) share, Long Term Open Access (LTOA), Medium Term Open Access (MTOA) and Renewable Energy sources, the shortage in demand is met through short term tie ups such as Day Ahead Market (DAM), Day Ahead Contingency (DAC) Market, Long Duration contract (LDC) and Real Time Market (RTM), it added. Challenges faced in grid management are thermal outages, CGS share outages among others, the policy note pointed out. Tamil Nadu reached an all-time high peak power demand of 20,830 MW on May 2, 2024, and the record high daily consumption of 454.32 million units on April 30, 2024. Last month, Electricity Minister S.S. Sivasankar had said Tamil Nadu's power demand so far in the current summer has been lower than last year, due to rains in parts of the State. India's energy consumption stood at 148.7 billion units in May 2025, marking a 4% decline compared to the previous year. Unseasonal rains and the early onset of the monsoon kept temperatures lower than usual, leading to reduced electricity demand, as per Indian Energy Exchange.
New Indian Express
08-05-2025
- Business
- New Indian Express
Labour shortage, attrition delay Udangudi power project
THOOTHUKUDI: The commissioning of the Udangudi supercritical thermal power plant (TPP), being constructed by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), may be further delayed due to labour shortage and attrition. The plant's operation, expected to start power generation by May this year, may be delayed till September as nearly 15% of work is pending, sources said. The plant has been designed to produce 1,320 MW of power per day from two units of 660-MW capacity each. BHEL began work on the Udangudi TPP in 2018 and the plan was to commission unit 1 by September 2024 and unit 2 by January 2025. Tangedco chairman and managing director J Radhakrishnan recently said that power generation would begin by May 2025. BHEL officials said over 6,000 contract workers are required for the construction of the two units, but only 4,300 workers could be mobilised and 98% of them are migrant workers. Of the 4,300 workers, over one-third are skilled workers like machine operators, welders, riggers, fitters and technicians holding boiler licence. Unskilled workers are largely involved in menial and civil work, an official said. Expressing concern over labour shortage, a senior Tangedco official said migrant workers leave for their native places after working barely for two or three months, while local workers do not prefer contract jobs.
