The test of the first unit of power generation of the 456 MW Upper Tamakoshi project with much awaited domestic investment has been successful. The project has successfully tested the first unit by sending water to the turbine of the power house to repair the manhole leakage of penstock, Kantipur Online has written.
This is called mechanical test before power generation, said project spokesman Ganesh Neupane. “During the mechanical test, we turned the turbine by sending water,” Neupane said. “The mechanical test of the first unit is over.” According to him, the first unit will generate 76 MW of electricity from the turbine. Earlier, during the test of penstock, there was a leak in the manhole. “We are also repairing the penstock caps by shutting off the water in the tunnels,” Neupane said.
He informed that the test of the second turbine will start from Wednesday. He said that testing of power generating units’ by turning turbines has been started to identify the problems seen in the project at once. “Repeatedly shutting off water and repairing the problem areas is delayed,’ he said. “We are testing all the units at once to identify all the problems.”
He informed that testing of five more units will also start soon. Although 76 MW of electricity was generated from the first unit, it has not been released in the transmission line. “76 megawatts of electricity from one unit,” Neupane said.
Spokesman Neupane said that the power generation will start by repairing the lid of the penstock after testing all the units. He said that the project is testing the project by keeping the schedule of connecting 228 MW electricity from at least 3 units to the national transmission line till the end.
The project will generate 2.28 billion units of electricity annually. The project will earn about Rs. 9 billion annually from the sale of electricity. The cost of project, which is expected to be completed at Rs. 35.33 billion is estimated to increase to Rs. 80 billion.
By Muna Chand
