Punjab suffers daily loss of 104 LU from Ropar Thermal

17 January, 2012

Two units of Ropar thermal were closed after mishaps allegedly due to poor maintenance.

PUNJAB SUFFERS a loss of over 104 lakh units daily after two Ropar Thermal Plant units tripped on Sunday after a fire incident in unit 3 and a blast in boiler of unit 1.

On Sunday afternoon a fire broke out in the cables of unit no. 3 at zero meter following breakage of welding of furnace oil pipeline. Hot furnace oil started flowing out of the burst pipe and fell on the power and control cables. This led to burning of cables and tripping of unit in fire incidence. Cables worth few lakhs were damaged in this fire incidence. It will take more than a week to start the unit after the replacement of cables, said a senior official.

In the evening there was a minor blast in the boiler of unit no. 1 due to pressurizing of boiler. The boiler was pressurized after the scanners failed to sense the flame failure in boiler. The poor coal quality added to the problem. It will also take a week before the boiler can be lighted up.

A senior official said that all the units were running extremely well for the last 22 days but suddenly these mishaps occurred. These can be due to lack of proper maintenance and supervision at the plant.

The power from thermal plants came down to just above 400 lakh units and state resorted to extra power purchase from eastern grid to bridge the demand supply gap.