CHENNAI: Electricity Minister V Senthilbalaji on Tuesday inspected the 800 MW North Chennai Thermal Power Station Stage III, which Chief Minister MK Stalin had inaugurated on March 7. He directed officials to take steps to begin power generation by the end of December.

An official release said that the minister had conducted a detailed review of the preparatory works for the commencement of the trail generation in the plant. To achieve commercial operation declaration, the new supercritical thermal power plants should be continuously operated for 72 hours at full capacity.

The plant had achieved the milestone of a full-load generation of 800 MW on June 27. Tangedco CMD Nandhakumar and director (project) Karukavel Rajan were present during the review.