By Vishal Gulati, IANS,
Shimla : Hydropower generation in Himachal Pradesh has dipped 35-40 percent in the past two months because of deficient monsoon, affecting electricity supplies to Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.
“Generation dipped in July and August because of low flow of water in the rivers,” said Suneel Grover, director of generation at the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board.
According to the meteorological office here, all districts except Una have been deficient in rainfall so far.
While there was 85 percent deficit in Chamba district, it was 72 percent in Lahaul and Spiti, 63 percent in Sirmaur and 57 percent in Shimla.
The electricity board runs 21 run-of-river projects with a combined generation capacity of 467 MW, producing about 1,800 million units of power annually, the peak production coming between March and October.
Between July and August, Grover said, these projects produced 445 million units of power, as against 707 million units in the same period a year ago.
“This shows this time the generation has fallen by 37 percent,” Grover told IANS.
Similarly, the 540-MW Chamera I,300-MW Chamera II and 198 MW Chamera III projects in Chamba district run by the National Hydroelectric Power Corp have also been running below generation capacity.
But deficient rainfall has come as a boon for the 1,500-MW Nathpa-Jhakri project in Kinnaur district, as it has meant less siltation leading to higher generation.
“The Nathpa-Jhakri station has achieved a record generation in the past three months this year due to poor monsoon,” said N.C. Bansal, general manager and project head of Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd (SJVNL), the company that owns and operates the plant.
“The station generated 310 million more units than the target fixed by the union power ministry between June and August,” Bansal told IANS.
“Less silt in the Satluj means optimum generation. The plant did not get excess loads of silt and muck.”
Excessive silt damages the turbines at the station, which last year had to be closed on that account for nine days during the monsoon.
The Nathpa-Jhakri project supplies power to Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
Himachal Pradesh has abundant water resources, with five major rivers flowing down the slopes of the Himalayas. Its power generation potential is 20,416 MW, about 25 percent of India’s total hydropower potential.
Of this, around 6,500 MW has been developed.
Eleven projects with a combined generation capacity of 1,124 MW are under execution by the state electricity board, whereas 15 projects with a capacity of 1,738 MW are under execution by private companies.
The state had generated 6,229 million units of power in 2007-08, out of which 5,029 million units were sold outside the state.
(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at [email protected])