TNEB's golden jubilee celebrations

The Tuticorin Thermal Power Station is illuminated as part of the celebrations on Tuesday.The golden jubilee celebrations of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) organised by the employees of Tuticorin Thermal Power Station (TTPS), was held with pomp and gaiety here on Tuesday evening.Inaugurating it, the Collector, R. Palaniyandi, said that the development of TTPS in tandem with the expansion of infrastructure like airport and port over the next few years would catapult the industrial status of Tuticorin to greater heights.

Complimenting the TNEB for its exponential growth registered in 50 years, he said that installed capacity of the Board increased from 256 MW in 1957 (the year of establishment) to 10,098 MW in 2007.The number of electrified towns, villages and habitations rose from 1,813 to 63,177 during the same period.G. Selvaraj, Chief Engineer, TTPS, said that gross energy generation of TNEB presently stands at 63,038 million units, while it was just 1,053 million units in 1957.Comparing the statistics in 1957 vis-À-vis 2007, he said that the number of sub-stations increased from 89 to 1,148, number of distribution transformers from 3,773 to 1,73,053, length of extra high tension and high tension lines from 11,479 km to 1,54,068 km, and length of low tension lines from 13,055 km to 5,01,807 km.

Likewise, the per capita consumption increased from 21 units to 960 units and peak demand grew from 172 MW to 8,803 MW, over the last five decades.He said that two more units of 500 MW each capacity would be established at TTPS soon, which was expected to generate employment to thousands of people and boost the economic activity in the town.The Minister for Animal Husbandry, P. Geetha Jeevan distributed prizes to winners of various cultural competitions conducted as part of the celebrations.