Tamil Nadu to study LNG power project feasibility

Chennai, March 29 (IANS) The Tamil Nadu government will examine the feasibility of setting up a 500 MW power plant to be fired by liquefied natural gas (LNG), Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa told the assembly here Thursday.

Jayalalithaa said: "Once the LNG terminal is built in Ennore, then the government would study the feasibility of setting up a 500 MW power plant."

Referring to the LNG pipeline laid by GAIL Ltd between Kochi in Kerala and Bangalore in Karnataka via Coimbatore, Salem and Dharmapuri - all in Tamil Nadu - Jayalalithaa said her government would also study the feasibility of setting up 500 MW power plants to be powered by LNG.

She said owing to insufficient supplies of coal even to existing thermal power plants and saturation levels in hydel power projects, alternative fuel for power plants was a compulsion of the times.

Listing out other power projects planned by her government, Jayalalithaa said a 660 MW super critical power plant will be set up at Ennore at an outlay of Rs.3,960 crore and electricity generation would commence in 2015.

Similarly the 1,600 MW thermal power project at Uppur in Thiruvadanai in Ramanathapuram district will be commissioned in 2015, she said.

According to her, the 800 MW project planned at Tuticorin will also be commissioned by the end of 2015.

Jayalalithaa accused the previous DMK government of not doing enough explaining to the central government, resulting in reduced share of power to the state.