Breach at Bheni distributary, Talwandi Sabo power plant partially shuts down

Ruchika M Khanna

Chandigarh, January 3

A breach at the Bheni distributary of the Kotla canal has led to a partial shutdown of the Talwandi Sabo power plant for 15 days, affecting the power generation.

The power plant is working at just 50 per cent of its operational capacity, resulting in a daily power gap of 600 MW. This has forced Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) to buy an average of 700 MW of power from the power exchange daily to meet the demand of 7,500 MW.

Official sources said power was being purchased at over Rs 5 per unit. Due to foggy conditions, solar power generation has also taken a hit.

The Kotla branch and its sub-distributaries were to be closed for maintenance from November 15 to December 5 and the Power Department was informed about the same. However, the maintenance work was completed by December 14. As the matter reached top echelons of the state government, the Power Department and the Irrigation Department blamed each other for the delay.

While the Power Department claimed that the work at the site was “poorly monitored leading to accumulation of debris, constraining the flow of water in canal and thus affecting power generation”, the Irrigation Department accused the former of forcing them to release water in the canal before the concrete-lining dried, which led to the breach in the canal on December 18.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior officer of the Power Department, said if the water supply to the canal was not restored immediately, the entire plant would be shutdown.

A senior officer of the Talwandi Sabo power plant said the Irrigation Department had assured them of restoring the water supply by January 6.