CUDDALORE | Nov 12, 2015: Incessant rain over the last few days has forced Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) to suspend mining activities from Monday. The corporation will take at least a day or two to drain the water inundating the mines and resume mining activities provided the weather improved and rain stopped.

As a result, power generation at Neyveli has been disrupted. On Wednesday afternoon, the stations were putting out just 800MW.

Neyveli Township received 45cm rain on Monday. "This happens during monsoon season. This year the township received maximum rainfall on Monday. In the recent past, the rainfall had never gone above 30cm for any particular day. We will restore mining shortly and scale up power generation," said an NLC official.

The corporation has three thermal units- thermal power station I with an installed capacity of 600MW, thermal power station I expansion with an installed capacity of 420 MW, thermal power station II with an installed capacity of 1,470MW and thermal power station II expansion with an installed capacity of 500MW. Power generated from thermal power station I is earmarked exclusively for Tamil Nadu.

But any disruption to Neyveli power generating stations may not have much impact on the overall power situation in the state. Due to heavy rain in Chennai and other parts of the state, the total power demand has come down to less than 5,000MW. There were also power cuts in many parts of the rain-affected areas to prevent electrocution. This also accounts for lower demand. "We hope NLC will start generation of power in a few days as the demand is expected to pick up once the weather changes," said a TNEB official.

(Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/)