Mumbai, Jan 19 (IANS) The fourth unit of Kaiga Generating Station (KGS), Kaiga-4, India's 20th nuclear reactor, began supplying electricity after it was linked to the southern power grid early Wednesday, an official said here.

After the synchronisation of the 220 MW KGS-4, the country's nuclear power capacity has gone up to 4,780 MW with a total of 20 reactors in operation, according to an official of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd here.

The latest development also increased the installed capacity of KGS to 880 MW, making the nuclear power plant in Uttar Kannada district of Karnataka the third largest after Tarapur (1400 MW) in MAharashtra and Rawatbhata (1180 MW) in Rajasthan.

Fuelled by indigenous uranium, Kaiga-4 will supply electricity to Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.

The Kaiga-4 had achieved first criticality (achieved steady power output) Nov 27 last year and was synchronised Wednesday after completing the mandatory tests and clearances from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board.

With this, the NPCIL has also achieved a new landmark of generating over 4,000 MW power per day (over 95 million units), which is double over what was generated at the same time last year.