NTPC commissions two units of Kol Dam

Kuldeep Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, April 1

The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) commissioned the first two units (200 MW each) of the 800 MW Kol Dam project yesterday after two machines were synchronised with the northern grid successfully.

The other two units, of same capacity, would be commissioned soon, NTPC sources said.

Chairman and Managing Director of NTPC A Rai Chaudhary conducted the trial run of the first two units and commissioned them at the power house amid cheers from managers and engineers. With the commissioning of these units, the NTPC broke its jinx and became the first public sector thermal company to commission a hydropower project in the country.

“The CMD successfully commissioned the first two units by synchronising the two machines with the grid,” said AK Nanda, general manager, Kol Dam project. The other two units will follow suit shortly, as and when the dam level hit the targeted 642 m, he added.

The formal inauguration would be done in 10 days as the Corporation is seeking date with the Ministry of Power and Prime Minister’s Office.

The 167-metre-high rock and earth fill Kol Dam on the Sutlej river, on the border of Bilaspur and Mandi district, would be formally inaugurated in 10 days as the NTPC awaits nod from the Ministry of Power, NTPC managers claimed.

Even the 412-MW Rampur power project of the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVNL) and the 520-MW Parbati-III of the National Hydro-electric Power Corporation (NHPC) are yet to start formally as the companies are seeking date with the PMO and Power Ministry, insiders said.

The Kol Dam project authorities have already tested three units, while the testing of the fourth unit is under process, the sources added.

The state government and the NTPC had signed an agreement on February 26, 2000. The then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee laid its foundation stone on June 5, 2000.

The Kol Dam acquired land from 68 villages, mainly Kasol, Harnora in Bilaspur, Kyan in Mandi and Sunni in Shimla district.

The state would get 366.48 million units of electricity every year as per its 12 per cent free power share out of the 3,054 million units of electricity that the project would generate every year. The project would supply electricity to Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Chandigarh.

Power Ministry’s nod awaited

• The 167-metre-high rock and earth fill Kol Dam on the Sutlej river, on the border of Bilaspur and Mandi district, will be formally inaugurated in 10 days as the NTPC awaits nod from the Ministry of Power
• Even the 412-MW Rampur power project of the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVNL) and the 520-MW Parbati-III of the National Hydro-electric Power Corporation (NHPC) are yet to start formally as the companies are seeking date with the PMO and Power Ministry, insiders said.