Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami has announced the setting up of two new gas-based thermal plants in Chennai. The plants, intended to meet the ever-growing power needs in the state, will be created at a cost of Rs 5,000 crore. Each plant would be 730 MW in capacity.
According to the Times of India, the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited (TANGEDCO) has been tasked with setting up the plants in the northern part of the city. The newly-announced thermal plants will be powered by natural gas, a departure from the norm since most thermal units belonging to the state are coal-based. The plants will be located at the premises of the old GMR power plant in Basin Bridge area, north Chennai. The previously functioning GMR units, which were decommissioned last year, were naphtha-based, a liquid hydrocarbon mixture.