The Tamil Nadu Power Generation Corporation has received the first shipment of coal for the Udangudi supercritical thermal power plant as it prepares for imminent commissioning. A vessel carrying 74,000 tonnes (74,000 t) from Vizag reached the Kallamozhi offshore captive coal jetty on 21 February and was berthed the following day after guidance from the Tamil Nadu Maritime Board and completion of statutory clearances. The shipment marks the start of fuel delivery for final commissioning activities.

The Kallamozhi jetty is Asia's first offshore facility located seven point nine km off the coast and TNPGCL has constructed a 555-metre-long and 24-metre-wide main berth capable of handling two coal-laden vessels. Cargo was unloaded into a hopper that fed a closed conveyor system which delivered coal to the crushing unit within the plant for a test trial. The arrangement is intended to reduce handling time and minimise transfer losses during sustained operations.

A senior TNPGCL official said that over 1200 t per hour was being discharged from the jetty to the plant, which are located eight km apart, and that coal then had to be transported six km from the shore to reach the coal yard. The official added that the actual capacity of the conveyor system was 2,000 t per hour and that the operations team expected to scale throughput as required. Unit one will be inaugurated once power production is stabilised, and electricity production stabilised at 330 megawatt (MW) during the trial run, which was 50 per cent of the unit's total capacity.

The unit was tripped multiple times and restarted to test the functions of boilers, turbines and auxiliary production systems, and engineers carried out repeated cycles to validate performance under varying loads. The team indicated that the load supplied from the coal jetty would be increased in coming days to raise electricity generation progressively. Officials described the facility as a milestone in the power sector for TANGEDCO and TNPGCL, and said the captive jetty and conveyor link would strengthen fuel security and logistics ahead of formal commissioning.