i Nityin

I would like to add on to your points. Sanjay Gandhi
Vidyut Pariyojna is indeed a technical marvel. It is a
120 MW project. The whole project is underground and
when i say underground, i mean the power house, the
control offices has been dug inside the mighty
himalayas. Water is stored in dam in Bhaba Nagar from
where it is carried on to turbines, a distance of
around 5 6 kms but with height drop of around 1,000
metres. The discharge is in Sutlej river. This project
has 3 turbines of 40 MW each. All three have been
imported and comissioned from some scandinavian
country. Last i heard, two of the turbines were out of
order and the project was only running on 1 turbine
i.e 40 MW. Since, to bring any repairs would mean
stopping the project completely.

Now some of the points as to why Sanjay Vidyut
Pariyojna is being talked with NJPC these days.
The disharge point of Sanjay Vidyut pariyojna was
originally around 30-40 feet from sutlej basin in year
1998-99. Then the terrible flash floods in sutlej of
2001 changed everything. More than 300 lives were
lost. A whole bus stop named "wangtu" which was
transit point towards Bhaba Nagar and the tunnel was
washed away. That place was the entry point to Kinnaur
and Ladhak and vistors passes used to be checked. Now
all that has been done away with. So after the
flooding the height between discharge point and sutlej
river was cut down to 15-20 feet only. Rest was
filled with the silt brought by floods.

Now enters NJPC. When HPSEB along with Geologial
Survey Deptt of India was conducting survey for NJPC
dam site which is only one to one and half kilometer
from the discharge point of Sanjay Vidyut Pariyojna.
They blundered by calculating the dam height less by 2
metres. So what happened while executing the project
was that those 2 metres were very crucial. That cut
down the power generation of NJPC by almost half,
since the water catchment area went down!
Now if they increase the height by 2metres. The dam
would stop enough water to submerge the discharge
point of Sanjay Vidyut Pariyojna. and water would
flood the turbines.
So naturally a big fight ensued between NJPC and
HPSEB, since HPSEB was the loser if Sanjay Vidut
project shuts down. Finally they patched up and got
some sort of compromise formulae. After increasing the
height of the NJPC dam, now the height difference
between the sutlej and sanjay vidyut project discharge
point is around 3 to 4 feet.
Another interesting point though. While doing survey
they not only miscalculated the height of the dam but
also the silt content of the sutlej river. Silt is the
very small earth particles sutlej river brings with
it. This silt if not filtered from the water would go
inside the turbine with water with very large force.
Imagine particles of sand hitting your face on a very
windy day when you are driving on a motorcycle.
Well thats what is happening to NJPC turbines these
days. The silt content of the dam was miscalculated so
much that the turbines have started to rust already.
Because the silt with water is damaging the turbines.
I am not aware if BHEL(Indian) turbines are doing
better than the Alstom(Swedish) turbines. But it is a
real shame. On account of silt, the dam has already
been stopped before a lot. They are trying to coat the
turbines with various special paints. Lets see how it
works now.
Already himachal has lost close to 300-400 crores of
income from NJPC. It is a real shame that the only
avenue from where Himachal earns some money is so much
in technical trouble. Lets hope Rampur Hydel project
and many others coming up dont see such kind of
mistakes.
Regards,
Tenzin

--- NITYIN <bnityin@...> wrote:

>
> A case point here I would like to mention is the
> Sanjay Vidyut Project built and operated by HPSEB at
> Bhaba Nagar which is completely underground and has
> been working fantastically. This project was a
> prelude to the one of NJPC.
>
>
>
> Though not myself a technical person but what I have
> gathered after talking to people connected with the
> project there are two main faults.. One is the
> outlet of the tunnel which is just on the river bank
> which results in the flooding of the tunnel during
> rainy season. Instead the water discharged should
> have been from height sort of a water fall. Another
> main fault is with the turbines which have been
> imported. They are not working properly. BHEL people
> did a wonderful job in setting up of the powerhouse
> but imported turbines are said to be faulty.
>
>
>
> Lastly, the tales of corruption at NJPC are
> legendry. Recently one senior official was in probe
> as he had got the job on the basis of forged
> certificates. Officers facing corruption charges
> were promoted to senior posts. There are allegations
> in acquiring land for the Rampur project where a few
> locals have been given preferential treatment. Even
> in the functions organized by NJPC, only a few local
> traders are given the contracts where the commission
> is fixed with them… The entire racket is well
> organized. There are some local influential persons
> who scout around and fix deals for the officials.
>
>
>
> Satluj basin has become a money minting goldmine for
> NJPC guys!!
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
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