Talcher, Mar 14 (UNI) A major fire in the unit four of the NTPC's largest thermal power plant at Kaniha today destroyed the transformer generator of turbine, forcing the authorities to shut down the unit.

NTPC sources said the fire was noticed in the fourth unit of the plant around 1630 hours. Although it took more than one hour to bring the situation under control and extinguish the blaze but the transformer generator was completely burnt in the fire.

The incident forced the NTPC authorities to shut down the unit having generation capacity of 500 MW of power.

The Kaniha plant of the NTPC is considered as the largest thermal power plant in the country with a generation capacity of 3000 MW of power. NTPC sources said out of the six units in operation, one unit was shut down following the incident.

Normally the entire generation from the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th units of the thermal plant was supplied to the southern states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Pondichery.

The cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained and fortunately no one was injured in the mishap.

With the shutdown of one unit, the power supply to the southern states would be affected for the time being, NTPC sources said.

UNI