Electricity generation by the Nathpa Jhakri, the country’s largest hydro-electric project, continued to be disrupted for the fourth day in a row today, due to high silt levels in the Sutlej river.
The mammoth 1,500-Mw project, located in the tribal district of Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh, supplies power to all the states of northern India. And its complete shutting down is resulting in a daily revenue loss of around Rs 10.5 crore (Rs 105 million), per day.
The silt levels rise in peak summer when there is rapid melting of snow in the high mountains of China and India .
“Today the silt levels have suddenly increased in the Sutlej river on the China side.Until yesterday, the silt levels were higher in the Spiti river, a major tributary of the Sutlej,” an official of the Nathpa project told Business Standard.
Engineers say high levels of silt can damage the machinery of the project forcing them to close down the project.
The permitted level of silt at Nathpa should be below 5,000 parts per million(ppm) for the safe running of the giant trubines. But in the last four days the silt level is varying between 10,000 ppm to 17,000 ppm. Officials suspect this could continue for a few more days, further worsening the power shortage in north India.