Tuticorin power station’s unit III resumes operations after fire, says Minister Senthilbalaji

Due to heavy smoke and breathing difficulties, the firefighting personnel could not immediately enter the affected area. The fire was completely extinguished by 6.30 p.m. on March 16. 

Minister for Electricity, Prohibition, and Excise V. Senthilbalaji told the Tamil Nadu Assembly that unit III of the Tuticorin Thermal Power Station (TTPS), which was temporarily shut down along with units I and II following a major fire on March 15, 2025, resumed operations early Thursday (April 3, 2025).

The Minister was responding to a Calling Attention Motion moved by MLAs O. Panneerselvam, R. Vaithilingam, Paul Manoj Pandian, P. Ayyappan, and M.H. Jawahirullah regarding the fire.

Mr. Senthilbalaji said at the TTPS, five units with a total capacity of 1,050 MW (210 MW each) had been installed, and on March 15, all units except unit II were operational. Unit II was on standby at 10 p.m. and unit I was automatically shut down following a malfunction in the station service switchgear. As a result, there was an interruption in the 6.6 kV internal power supply. Afterwards, unit III was also automatically shut down due to a disruption in the power supply.

Following this, smoke appeared in the switchgear section of unit I and a major fire broke out in the zero meter cable gallery. Immediately, the station’s firefighting team was alerted. Additionally, fire tenders from VOC Port, NTPL, SPIC, and nearby towns were deployed to put out the fire, which had begun to spread from the unit I cable gallery to unit II, Mr. Senthilbalaji said.

However, due to heavy smoke and breathing difficulties, the firefighting personnel could not immediately enter the affected area. The fire was completely extinguished by 6.30 p.m. on March 16.

The Minister said the damages have not been fully assessed yet due to the impact of heat on that area. A complete inspection will be conducted in the next three days, soon after a safe environment is established in that area, he added.

As of Thursday morning, units III, IV, and V are operational. The key equipment in units I and II, such as the boiler and transformer, was not affected by the fire. The District Collector and the Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) had visited the site to monitor the situation. A high-level committee was formed to investigate the fire, assess damages, estimate the time required for repairs, and provide recommendations to prevent such incidents in the future. Only after a detailed evaluation would power generation in units I and II be resumed, he added.