Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao will inspect the construction works of Yadadri thermal power station on Monday, November 28. The project is likely to be commissioned in September next year. The 4,000 Megawatt power station is billed as the biggest thermal plant to be set up in the public sector.

The plant is under construction in Damarcherla mandal of Nalgonda district at an estimated cost of Rs 29,992 crore. Officials expect that once this project is commissioned, Telangana will no longer have any power deficit. Since Assembly elections in the state are scheduled in December 2023, the TRS government is keen to commission the prestigious project before the polls.

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has bagged the contract for the construction of the super critical plant. The power plant will have five units of 800 MW each. Telangana State Power Generation Corporation (TS Genco) officials say the first unit will start generating power in September 2023. The second unit is expected to be commissioned in December the same year and the remaining two units in 2024.

According to Genco, the project works are in full swing. About 62 per cent of the work has already been completed. The percentage of work completed is even higher in the first two units of stage I.

This is the third thermal power plant taken up after the formation of Telangana state. Genco established the Kothagudem thermal plant with 800 MW capacity in a record 46 months. This project was commissioned in 2019. Subsequently, 1080 MW Bhadradri plant came up near Bayyaram in Bhadradri Kothagudem district. 

Meanwhile, Genco officials said the National Green Tribunal's orders will not impact the construction work. The NGT last month suspended the environment clearance for the project, citing ambiguity in terms of coal linkages and the distance of the project site from the Amrabad Tiger Reserve.

However, the NGT has given nine months to Genco to get the project reappraised by the Expert Appraisal Committee in the aspects cited, and obtain fresh clearance from the union ministry of environment and forests, during which the construction work for the power station may go on, provided that the plant is not installed and the project, not commissioned.