Storage of Nathpa dam to be raised

Engineers have found a way to raise the level of the reservoir of the Nathpa Jhakri project in Himachal Pradesh and its optimum power generation capacity.

The 1,500-Mw Nathpa project, the country's largest hydel project, feeds the power-hungry northern grid clean energy.

"In the next couple of months, we should be able to raise the level of the dam by around 10 metres, enabling us to generate considerably more electricity," said NC Bansal, general manager of the project. This will make the height 1,496 metres.

"By raising the level of the reservoir, we will be in a position to provide peaking power to the northern grid," he said. Engineers said the dam would be filled to the brim in the next couple of weeks. The impact of the peaking power will be felt during the lean winter season when snow melting is at its lowest in the Sutlej river.

Raising the level of the reservoir will also help in combating the silt content in the water during the monsoon. The higher level would help the silt settle at the bottom and not get into the turbines and corrode and damage them, said experts.

Since the dam was built over two years ago it has remained shut for long periods during the monsoon when the silt levels are high in the Sutlej.