E-Paper
Rain fury: Major hydel power projects shut in Himachal
Incessant rains during the last 48 hours in Himachal Pradesh have disrupted electricity generation due to heavy silting and debris sliding from hills
Incessant rains during the last 48 hours in Himachal Pradesh particularly in the high altitude region the catchment of major rivers have disrupted electricity generation due to heavy silting and debris sliding from hills. More than 24 power projects had to suspend electricity generation due to heavy silt. Operations at the 1,500 megawatt Nathpa Jhakri Hydel power project have been shut down.
On Friday night after the silt level increased in the turbulent Sutlej River. Silt-level in Sutlej River variate from 16,000 particles per million (ppm ) to 25,000 ppm which is higher than the permissible limit of 5,000 ppm. The Hydle project has its dam in Khab in Kinnaur while the power station was located in Jhakri near Shimla district’s Rampur town. The project incurred a loss to the tune of ₹14 crore ( per day ) for remaining shut for day said he. The silt is abnormally high in Sutlej. SJVNL-owned 412 megawatt Rampur project was also shut down due to silting. Rampur project is situated at the tail end of the 1,500 megawatt NJPC power project.
Rains further caused silting in the 1,091-megawatt Jindal Steel Works Hydel project at Karcham Wangtoo. In the wake of heavy silt deposits, project authorities opened radial gates of the dam in Wangtoo.
The 300-megawatt Baspa II project also closed down its operation. The project is located on the river Baspa tributary of the Sutlej River. The diversion barrage of the project is located at village Kuppa near Sangla and the powerhouse is located near village Karcham in Kinnaur about 800 meters upstream of the confluence of rivers Satluj and Baspa on NH-22 Hindustan Tibet Road. While Sanjay Vidyut Pariyojana - a hydel project located on river Bhaba was shut down. The entire project is underground and has a total installed capacity of 120 Megawatt, comprising three units each of 40 Megawatt. The five power projects are the main electricity suppliers to the northern electricity grid that supplies electricity to Delhi, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Chandigarh, Uttrakhand and Haryana. Closure of power projects had led to power outages in the northern grid
and Himachal as the closure of five projects had created a shortfall of nearly 3423 megawatts in the northern grid. Himachal itself had a shortfall of 800 megawatts. The power shortage was met from the unrequisitioned pool. The Larji hydropower project 126 watts was also closed while Sawra – Kuddu constructed across the Pabbar River 111 megawatts was also shut due to high silt level. Andhra15.5 megawatt was also closed down for the last two days due to silting in the river. The 100 MW Sainj power project was suspended. Both stages of the Malana hydel projects – 109 megawatts Malana 1 and 100 MW Malana 2 are also closed.
DAMS brimming till the full
While the silting has stopped generation in many power projects the dams of many other power projects are brimming till the capacity Chamera l - 4576 cumecs chamera II - 3650 cumecsBara Suil - 815 cumecsParbati II - 216 cumecsMalana-1 - 96 cumecsKoldam- 2250 cumecsLarji - 4900 Cumecs Karchham - 402 cumecs Pandoh - 5585 cumecs Giri - 2466 cumecs Sawara - 244 cumecs Nathpa - 1283.52 cumecs Chamera-III - 3203 cumecs PONG DAM INFLOW - 9741 cumecs out flow - NIL - Bhakhra Dam - INFLOW 5154 cumecs Outflow to Punjab - 417 cumec, larji - 5280 cumecs,. Giri- 2466.91 cumecs , Sawra Kuddu - 437.48 cumecs,. Sainj6. Chanju-1 - 120.47 cumec, . Budhil - 450 cumecs, Malana-1 - 97 cumecs Neogal - 60 cumecs Koldam- 2250 cumecs Nathpa- 1383.28 cumecs ,. Pong - 43.10 cumecs, Malana-II- 96.13 cumecs BHAKRA- 361.10 cumec,s PANDOH- 5646.60 cumecs, Baspa - 264 cumecs KARCHAM- 390.80 cumecs “ Earlier it was in 2019 measured 3850 cumecs at Larji - at present it is 5280 cumecs with rising trends’ said State disaster Management Authority Chairman DC Rana .
