The Kothagudem Thermal Power Station (KTPS), operational since 1965, is not a conventional tourist attraction, but it is the reason Paloncha exists and it shapes everything about the town. The plant — run by Telangana State Power Generation Corporation — has an installed capacity of over 1,600 MW across multiple units, making it one of the larger coal-fired stations in the state.
The sight of the cooling towers and chimney stacks dominating the flat Godavari plain has a blunt industrial grandeur that is its own kind of landscape. The residential colonies built for plant workers around Paloncha and Kothagudem have a planned, self-contained quality — parks, schools, hospitals, and shops all built to serve the workforce — that reflects the socialist planning logic of post-independence India.
The area around the plant gates and along the main road to Kothagudem is the commercial heart of the town, with the main market and most services concentrated here.