ISLAMABAD: More electricity loadshedding is on the cards as the 969 MW Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower project will be shut down for inspection of its 3.5-km Tail Race Tunnel (TRT) from January 10, 2023 for one month.
This comes at a time when the country is already facing a power deficit mainly because of canal closures, leading to less production of hydrogenation (hydroelectric power).
Also, two LNG-based power plants are not operational due to lack of fuel and closure of imported coal-based power plants. The loadshedding is also aggravated because of the faults that happen, every winter, in the Guddu power plant on account of tripping of multiple grid stations in the Multan region and other DISCOs.
Due to fog, the grid stations of 132kv, 220kv and 500kv trip every year, leaving a big question mark for the authorities on their inaction. The NTDC has repaired the faults but the country is still in the grip of power crisis.
A senior official of the Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Company (NJHPC) confirmed to The News that they are going to shut down the project for inspection of the Tail Race tunnel to examine the behaviour of the tunnel and find out any defect for further correction, if located.
During the defect liability period (DLP), he explained, if any defect is found, it would be the contractor’s liability to conduct repairs at their expense. After the lapse of DLP, the liability gets transferred to NJHPC. To a question, the official said that DLP time is for 8 months.
“We fully ran the project and generated electricity to its full capacity of 969 MW but right now the project is generating 120-140 MWs in the wake of low water flows in the Neelum River. Since water flows have drastically reduced, the authorities decided to shut it down for inspection before the manifold increase in water flows in February and March, making the closure difficult.”
The official further said: “The tunnel dewatering will take two to three weeks before inspection. Besides, the maintenance of turbines would also be carried out during this period.” The project was shut down on July 6, 2022 after an abnormal increase in water leakage in the powerhouse due to a blockage in the TRT canal. The Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project was executed at Rs430 billion and it started functioning in April 2018 under the AJK mountains. The project is one of its kind as only 10 percent of the dam is on the surface while 90 percent is underground with a waterway system comprising 52-kms of tunnels.
