Tamil Nadu CM Vijay announces setting up of new supercritical thermal power plant at Thoothukudi

Thoothukudi Thermal Power Plant. Image is for illustrative purposes only | Photo credit: N. Rajesh

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay on Monday (31 August 2026) announced the Tamil Nadu Transmission Improvement Plan at a cost of ₹ 33,066 crore to strengthen power transmission to major consumption centres, including Chennai. He also announced that a new supercritical thermal power plant would be set up at Thoothukudi at a cost of ₹20,800 crore, besides a ₹1,762 crore project to improve power distribution in Chennai.

In a suo motu statement to the gathering, Mr. Vijay said that 196 new substations and transmission lines covering 15,000 km would be created under the transmission improvement programme. Existing transmission lines would also be strengthened.

The renewable energy shift

The Chief Minister said that although Tamil Nadu is a leader in the renewable energy sector and is paying attention to wind, solar and battery power, the supply from these sources is not uniform.

He said technology is being developed to store excess energy produced from renewable sources in batteries and use it at night when needed. However, the existing infrastructure was not always sufficient to cover the state’s energy requirements.

Mr. Vijay said there was a need to rely on thermal power to ensure uninterrupted supply during periods of high demand and that infrastructure needed to be strengthened.

Claiming that no effort has been made to attract investment in thermal and hydro power plants in the last five years, the chief minister said the capacity of Thoothukudi thermal power plant, one of the state’s important power plants, would be increased.

The station has five thermal units, each with a capacity of 210 MW, making the total installed capacity 1,050 MW. The units have been in operation since 1979 and were commissioned in stages.

The Chief Minister said there was a plan to replace the existing units in compliance with environmental regulations for thermal power plants. Under the plan, the existing 210 MW units would be replaced by two units of 800 MW each under a public-private partnership (PPP) model, taking the total capacity to 1,600 MW.

Chennai performance infra

Mr. Vijay said the power distribution infrastructure in Chennai would be upgraded at a cost of ₹ 1,762 crore as power supply was interrupted during monsoon and there was a substantial increase in demand during summer.

According to the plan, 36 new substations, each with a capacity of 33/11 kV, should be installed, along with new transformers. Damaged and obsolete cables, pole boxes and circuit breakers would also be replaced.

Published – 31 Aug 2026 13:03 IST