NJPC power generation over 4350 MUs this year

Shimla, Oct 3: The 1,500 MW Nathpa Jhakri hydel power project in Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh has so far generated 4,350 million units (MUs) of power during the first half of the year, a company official today claimed.

''The project has so far generated 4,330 MUs of power this year from April one and exceeds the total generation of 4,055 MUs achieved during the same period last year,'' he said here.

The official said the NJPC, being executed by the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam, was likely to generate 6,320 MW of MUs of power during the fiscal with 1,615 MUs likely to be generated during the second half of the year.

The plant generated only 5,208 MUs of power in 2004-05, the first year of its operations, he said.

Commissioned in October 2003, it has been supplying power to the northern grid states of Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttaranchal, Jammu and Kashmir, Chandigarh and Himachal, which was being provided 12 per cent free power and 25 per cent of power at bus bar rates.

He said the project was likely to generate 360 MUs less power during the year due to incidences of high silt in Satluj River and flash floods during the monsoon season.

The power generation in the country's largest hydel power project had also remained shut for 21 days from July 24 to August 13, earlier this year, after the silt level in the reserviour climbed up to 12,000 parts per million (ppm) against a permissible limit of 4,000 ppm, causing a loss of Rs 175 crore to the Centre and the state, which has a 25 per cent stake in the plant. The official said the company was likely to generate about 1,615 MUs of power during the second half of the year, provided the required flow of water continued in the winter season.

For a capacity generation of 36 MUs of power per day, the plant required water inflow of 405 cumecs, while the water inflow at present was around 190 cumecs, leading to reduced power generation of 17.70 MUs per day, he said.

He said infrastructure development works on the 412 MW Rampur hydro-electric project have begin after receiving all mandatory approvals from respective authorities.

The Corporation was in the process of capacity addition of 2,500 MW with three projects in Himachal and an equal number in Uttaranchal, he added.

UNI