Vijayawada: The shutdown of two units in Dr Narla Thatharao Thermal Power Station (NTTPS) two days back is part of the state government’s mechanism for regular checking, according to sources from the energy department. Deccan Chronicle had predicted earlier about the possibility of reducing thermal production in a phased manner in the state to encourage the wind power usage.

Following pressure from the GoM on energy, the state government has taken this decision. In the days to come, there are bound to be many more such happenings in the energy sector, sources said. There are seven units in the NTTPS in Ibrahimpatnam of which two units of 500 mw and 210 mw each were shut. NTTPS chief engineer M. Padma Sujatha has said that the power generation was stopped following instructions from the state load dispatch centre at Gunadala.

“We have shut two of our units as per the instr-uctions owing to reduced demand. There is a rise in wind and hydel power with the increased flow into Srisailam. The Load Dispatch Centre has asked us to shut the units for three days,” the chief engineer said. The 500 maw unit generates around 12 million units and the 210 maw generates around 5.2 million units a day. The total capacity of Dr N.S. Ibrahi-mpatnam is 1760 mw.

Claiming that there is 154 per cent increase in wind power production, the officials have tried to impress upon Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu at a meeting on September 13 that wind power is the best alternative to the traditional hydel and thermal power production. The Group of Ministers (GoM), in fact, has been trying to support the cause of few wind power companies in Rayalasee-ma about which DC has reported. This became clear with statistics provided by the officials to the CM, last Wednesday. The CM also has suggested the energy officials to concentrate on increasing the renewable energy production and should make sure that the thermal power production should come down.

Some senior bureaucrats have briefed the CM that the abutting state, Tamil Nadu, is facing problems with wind power units and also explained how they would become burden over a period of time.