India has taken one unit of its Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant — the country’s largest nuclear facility — offline for scheduled maintenance, a move that could drive up electricity prices in southern states.
According to an outage report from the Central Electricity Authority dated August 7, the 1,000-megawatt Unit 1 at Kudankulam, located in Tamil Nadu, was shut down on August 3 for maintenance.
A senior official from the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation confirmed the shutdown, noting that the state may have to rely on electricity purchases from the market if demand rises. The official, who declined to be named due to federal control over nuclear operations, said the outage could impact the regional power supply.
The Kerala State Electricity Board Ltd. (KSEBL) has already raised concerns in a petition to the state’s electricity regulator, warning that the outage will exacerbate peak-hour shortages in some southern states and increase short-term procurement costs.
The maintenance period is expected to last 65 days. Combined with low trading volumes on power exchanges and higher demand from neighbouring states, this has forced utilities to secure power at elevated rates. KSEBL procured 300 MW of peak-hour power at prices reaching ₹9.18 ($0.1048) per unit. Purchases included supply from Tata Power at ₹8.75 per unit and from Greenko Energies at ₹9.18 per unit for the 7:00 PM to midnight slot throughout August.