Neelum Jhelum resumes generation

LAHORE: Neelum Jhelum hydropower project has resumed power generation on Saturday after completion of contractual inspection.

The project, which was commissioned in April 2018, remained shut from January 5 onwards for the contractual inspection of the plant during the low flow period of River Neelum, a spokesman for Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) said.

The plant inspection on depressurisation of tailrace showed the civil works and E&M works in good quality of construction and robust equipment.

The repair where required was minor and carried out on 3.5km underground tailrace, draft tubes, bonnet gates, the MIVs and the generating units along with the auxiliary equipment.

The spillway and debris channel gates of the dam structure were also tested under full operational level of the reservoir, which functioned satisfactorily, the spokesman said.

The available flow of River Neelum is around 60 Cumecs, which allows operation of one unit, utilising live storage of the reservoir. Thus, the Neelum Jhelum powerhouse is generating around 242MW, at present.

All the four units require 280 Cumecs of water, which will be possible by March / April 2019, entailing full generation of 969MW, he said, adding that the powerhouse is expected to achieve design energy production of annual 4.6 billion units during 2019/20, generating approximately Rs50 billion/annum.

The first unit of Neelum Jhelum hydropower project was commissioned in April 2018. All its four units went into operation in a phased manner by August 14, 2018. Prior to its contractual inspection, Neelum Jhelum hydropower project injected over 1.8 billion units to the national grid.