Plants trip, UP faces 1,500MW shortfall

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh's fragile power situation faces another threat - the rising levels of rivers in Uttarakhand that tripped four 100MW units at a Vishnu Prayag hydroelectric plant because of heavy siltation after midnight on Monday.
Two other power units, in Anpara-B and Anpara-C, also tripped. Consequently, total power generation fell by nearly 1500 MW, forcing the authorities to resort to rostering not only in villages but also in urban areas, including cities in the national capital region (NCR).
According to Northern Region Load Dispatch Centre (NRLDC) all four units at Vishu Prayag stopped working after heavy deposits of silt in the channels that bring water from the Alaknanda. The situation is similar to last year's when rising water levels in the Uttarakhand rivers because of flash floods led to heavy silting, forcing the closure of the Vishnu Prayag power plant for more than two months.
Sources in UPPCL said that work to remove the silt is in process. "We hope that will happen soon," said a senior official monitoring the power generation.
Another worry is the tripping of unit-5 in Anpara-B. The unit tripped on July 13 because of a fault in the generator transformer. Sources in UP Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam said hat the original transformer may take at least eight months to get repaired. Sources said the Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (BHEL) has been asked to carry out the repair as soon as possible.
Shailendra Dubey, chairman of the All India Power Engineer Federation, said there has been a demand to provide an alternate transformer from NTPC's Rihand power plant. "But even that may take at least a month," he said.
Likewise, the situation has been aggravated by the tripping of 600MW unit in Anpara-C power plant. According to NRLDC, the unit, controlled by the Hyderabad-based Lanco-Kondapalli, suffered a boiler tube leakage (BTL). Sources said the unit may take at least a couple of days to revive.