Fire breaks out in coal conveyor of Mettur thermal power plant
A fire broke out in the coal conveyor system of the Mettur Thermal Power Plant early on Tuesday morning.
The fire was put off within two hours by the Fire and Rescue Service personnel and the reason behind the outbreak is being analyzed. Currently, power production continues in the thermal plant. “But generation of power may continue till the existing stock in the storage unit gets exhausted. Then, coal supply to the power generation unit could not be done as fire has damaged the conveyor belt supplying coal to the production area,” said an official.
Some of the workers noticed the fire at 3.50 am and alerted senior officials and the fire station. A large team led by District Fire Officer Velu and six fire engines from the thermal plant immediately rushed to the spot and engaged in the fire-fighting task.
Though the fire had been put off, the conveyor area had to be cooled down to take up rectification works. “Experts from Chennai are likely to visit the plant to carry out the rectification work and assess reasons behind the fire outbreak,” said an official.
The thermal power plant has a capacity to generate 840 MW and is now into generating 700 MW of power on a daily basis. A similar fire broke out in the conveyor belt in 2013, when it took nearly about 20 days to rectify the issue.
“But this time it may not take that long as the damage caused by the fire is only minimal,” added the official.