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Third unit of Srisailam power plant commissioned
By A Business Correspondent
The Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation (APGenco) has added another 150 mw of power to the AP Grid with the commissioning of the third unit of the 900 mw (6x150 mw) Srisailam Left Bank Hydro Electricity Station. The first of its kind, in the country, the third unit is an underground power project.
To make the third unit operational, APGenco had to dig up 10-km long tunnels by the excavation of 25 lakh cubic metres of rock. The construction part comprised 6 lakh cubic metres of concreting with 37,000 tonnes reinforcement involving 2.1 lakh tonnes of cement.
With the commissioning of the third unit, the power generation in the state reached 9,212 mw, which includes 2,954 mw thermal, 3,123 mw hydel, 1,500 mw Central share, and 1,360 mw by private power projects. While commissioning the unit, J. Parthasarathy, Chairman and Managing Director, APGenco, said the fourth unit of the project would be commissioned by October this year, while the fifth and the sixth units would be ready in March and October next year.
Though the total project of 6x150 mw was initially estimated to cost Rs 418 crore in the year 1986, when the techno-economic clearance was given to the project, the cost was revised to Rs 1,166 crore when the project was approved by the Planning Commission in 1991. Later, the cost was revised again to Rs 2,482 crore owing to several factors. Together with the interest during construction (IDC) of Rs 900 crore, the total cost of the project has escalated to Rs 3.432 crore at present.
Parthasarathy said though the escalated project cost would lead to a generation cost of Rs 2.75 crore per mw, excluding IDC, and Rs 3.81 crore per mw, including IDC, the project cost was still reasonable and substantially low when compared with other hydel projects in the country. The project funded by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation is capable of operating in both the conventional mode as well as the pumping mode involving reversible turbines.
Interestingly, the water level in the Srisailam Reservoir was 807 ft on the day of the commissioning of the third unit with the minimum draw level at 803 ft. APGenco has been operating hydel stations only during the peak period to maintain the frequency level and meet the peak demand. With the water level falling to abysmally low levels, the government is contemplating drawing water from Jurala to generate at least three million units at Srisailam.
For more details please refer to Projectmonitor Prinit Version.
(1/5/02)
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