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Upper Marshyangdi technical glitch fixed
The Upper Marshyangdi ‘A’ Hydroelectric Project located in Lamjung district has started supplying entire electricity it generates to the grid after fixing a technical glitch that had hit power evacuation.Aash Gurung
The Upper Marshyangdi ‘A’ Hydroelectric Project located in Lamjung district has started supplying entire electricity it generates to the grid after fixing a technical glitch that had hit power evacuation.
The 50MW project, which began commercial operation four months ago, had not been able to evacuate electricity generated by one of the turbines after one of the high-voltage circuit breakers went kaput about three weeks ago.
“We airlifted the needed device from China and installed it. Since then power generated by both the turbines is being transmitted to the grid,” Karna Adhikari, chief of the project’s public relations department, said. The project is currently using two turbines, each generating 25MW of electricity.
A joint-venture between China’s Sino Hydro and Sagarmatha Power Company, the run-of-the-river project began construction in 2012. Sino Hydro holds a 90 percent stake in the project while Sagarmatha Power Company owns the rest. Upper Marshyangdi ‘A’ is the first hydropower project built with foreign direct investment. The powerhouse of the project is located at Bhulbhule-3 and a 6.5-km-long tunnel has been built to deliver water to the powerhouse from the dam site located at Bhulbhule-5. Although the construction of the project was hit by 2015 earthquakes and border blockade, the developer managed to complete the construction works on time. The project began producing 25MW of electricity using its first turbine on November 4. It started generating another 25 MW of electricity using the second turbine on December 23.
However, with the onset of winter, water level in the river basin has gone down, restricting the project’s electricity generating capacity to around 28MW to 29MW.