Hyderabad, October 03: With the increasing water inflows into the Srisailam project, threat of inundation to the adjacent hydel power station is looming large. But the AP Genco officials assured that there was no immediate threat to the 770 MW hydel power project which was ravaged by the floods in October 1998. They stated that all possible precautions had been taken for safeguarding the power project.
Late in the night, the officials were forced to stall power generation in both the 770 MW unit on the right bank and the 900 MW unit on the left bank of the Srisailam reservoir as the water levels touched 892 feet, the maximum cushion level of the reservoir. Power generation was stalled temporarily as the officials anticipated inundation of the hydel power project.
Located just below the Srisailam dam on the right bank of Krishna river in Kurnool district, the power station generates about 3,000 million units (mu) annually. The power station is equipped with seven units of 110 MW.
Another power project equipped with six units of 150 MW is located on the left bank of the project.
On October 15 in 1998, the power station was submerged under water due to unprecedented inflows into the dam, the highest ever since the construction of the dam. The Srisailam dam received about 7.35 lakh cusecs resulting in submerging of the power station and its surrounding areas.
Power generation was halted for more than three months in the unit. It took 75 days for the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) authorities to restore all seven units.
Later, the AP Genco officials constructed towering walls and elevated several areas of the project to avoid further submerging of the power station due to huge inflows in the project. The officials said that there was no immediate threat to the power station and it is being operated with full capacity for power generation.
However, people in the surrounding villages are fearing threat to the power station due to unprecedented increase in the inflows.
–Agencies–