ISLAMABAD: The 969 MW Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Plant Project (NJHPP) has now been shut for 13 days due to a malfunction that caused one of its two 3.5km tunnels to get blocked.
In this regard, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) on Tuesday, while taking notice of the 969 MW Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Plant Project’s (NJHPP) shutdown due to a technical fault, directed the management to expedite its restoration as early as possible.
It may be mentioned here that the management has not identified the exact technical issue that caused the blockage so far despite the passage of two weeks and was reportedly clueless when questioned during a briefing to NEPRA.
According to the details, the plant’s management called on authority on Tuesday and briefed them about the latest developments regarding the plant which has been non-operational since July 6. They said that their experts are in the process of investigating the fault and will take remedial measures once detected.
Chairman NEPRA Tauseef H. Farooqi and member NEPRA, Engr. Maqsood Anwar Khan directed the chief executive officer (CEO), Neelum-Jhelum HPP to expedite the plant’s restoration for connecting it to the national grid considering its importance as a reliable and cheaper source of renewable power generation.
According to NEPRA, the plant’s closure is putting an additional burden of around Rs350 million per day on power consumers as expensive residual fuel oils (RFO)-based power plants are being engaged to generate power.
The 969MW plant’s shutdown comes amid unannounced and prolonged power load-shedding in the country.
Sources privy to the development informed Profit that the delay in finding out what caused the blockage is because the management has limited resources. They said that the NJHPP has two tunnels and the issue which happened in one of the tunnels cannot be solved by local contractors and opined that the services of an international firm should be immediately so that the plant can be made operational as early as possible.
“There is no fault in the hydropower plant or in the tunnel that is used to bring water from the river to the power plant. However, another tunnel that diverts water from the plant to the river has suffered a blockage while efforts are underway to remove the fault,” a source in the Water Resources Ministry said.
Earlier on July 14, Secretary Water Resources Ministry Kazim Niaz while briefing the National Assembly Committee on Water Resources had said that the problem can only be understood by clearing the blocked tunnel whereas it would take a month to clear out the blockage.
