By IANS,
Shimla : The 1,500 MW Nathpa Jhakri project in Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh Thursday evening resumed power generation after the level of silt suddenly came down in the Sutlej river.
The plant was closed for nine days, causing power shortage in north India including Punjab, Haryana and Delhi.
The silt content in the river had crossed 9,500 ppm (parts per million), whereas the permissible limit is 4,000 ppm, forcing authorities to suspend power generation in all six units of 250 MW each.
“As the silt level came down in the evening, authorities decided to resume power generation in four units. Now we are producing 1,000 MW electricity,” Vijay Verma, deputy general manager of Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam, told IANS.
The project has been generating about 38 million units every day. Punjab gets 114 MW power daily from the project, Haryana 64 MW, Chandigarh 8 MW, Himachal Pradesh 547 MW, Delhi 142 MW, Jammu and Kashmir 105 MW, Rajasthan 112 MW, Uttar Pradesh 225 MW and Uttrakhand 38 MW.
He said the remaining two units would be operational in a day or two.
The closure of power generation had caused a loss of Rs.810 million, authorities said.