BBMB inks agreement with Japanese firms for Bhakra power house

Chandigarh, Nov 3 (UNI) Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) today signed an agreement with consortium comprising Sumitomo Corporation, Japan, Hitachi Ltd, Japan and VA Tech Hydro Austria for renovation, modernisation and uprating ( R, M and U) of Bhakra left bank power house at the Bhakra Nangal dam.

This power house has five hydro-electric generating units, each orginally designed for 90 MW commissioned in 1960-61. This capacity of each of these units was uprated from 90 MW to 108 MW during 1983-85 by replacing insulation of its stator from Class B to Class F.

Now, the capacity of each unit is being uprated to 126 MW by changing the major parts of turbine and generators, feasibility of which stood confirmed by relevant studies.

The signing ceremony which was held at BBMB corporate office here, was culmination of long drawn exhaustive process of evaluation after BBMB invited global tenders for this project last year.

Speaking on the occasion BBMB Chairman U C Misra acknowledged the contribution of BBMB engineers and assured full cooperation to the consortium. He further undelined various benefits to accrue from this R,M and U.

Besides increasing the power generation capacity of the power house from 540MW ( 5X108 MW) to 630 MW (5X126 MW), it shall mitigate day-to-day operational and maintenance problems while giving fresh lease of life to generating machines which have been in operation for the last more than 45 years against normal life of 25 to 35 years.

Increased power generation capacity shall further enhance BBMB's contribution towards peaking power supply and yield indirect benefit through trading o CERs ( Carbon Emission Reductions).

UNI