The powerhouse of the 110MW Shanan hydroelectric project in Jogindernagar in Himachal’s Mandi district was flooded with high water flow after a huge bypass pipe connecting penstock burst on Saturday afternoon.
Engineers and other staff working in the project swung into action to prevent the powerhouse from flooding completely. While power generation was stalled for hours, the situation was brought in control by the midnight. The valve of the penstock was closed and water was drained out till Sunday morning.
Project superintending engineer Harish Sharma said the incident happened during testing when valve of one of the penstocks was opened and a bypass pipe burst while creating required pressure. “There was no loss to human life and nobody was injured. Power generation was affected for 13 hours. Now that situation is under control, we are testing all the machines one by one. The first machine is running at full load and second machine has also been started and working fine. Machine number three and four may have suffered some damages. Testing is continuing,” he said.
As water flow remains low these days, the project can produce maximum of 45MW of electricity. Sharma said as the project was old, the erosion in the pipes from inside may have decreased the thickness of the metal. “We shall soon scan all the pines and machines for erosion. The whole project is to be renovated soon and we have already initiated the process,” he said.
The 96-year-old Shanan project is under the control of the Punjab State Electricity Board and the revenue also goes to Punjab government. Himachal Pradesh has been claiming its ownership but Punjab does not wish to release its control on it and the matter is in court. Himachal claims that the 99-year lease of the project will be over 2024 anyway.
The Shanan hydel project was envisaged by Col BC Batty, the then chief engineer of government of Punjab in 1922. The four penstock (4X12) 48MW first-stage project was constructed at initial cost of Rs 2.53cr and it was commissioned in 1932. Later, the fifth penstock was laid and a new powerhouse of 50MW generation capacity was commissioned in 1982.
On July 17 last year, a similar incident had happened in 100MW Uhl hydroelectric project stage-III in Jogindernager when one of the penstock pipes of the project had burst during its commissioning and caused flooding in the powerhouse. The incident had left 20 employees trapped there for hours.
