Leaking pipe poses danger to Srisailam power house
Srisailam, Sept 7 (INN): Frantic efforts are on by Engineering Department officials to plug a 5 foott hole in a water pipeline which poses a danger to the 770MW Right Bank Power house at Srisailam on Tuesday. According to sources, the five-feet hole occurred at 5th unit of the power station is spewing out water at a tremendous pace. The water has already forced the authorities to halt power generation in 2nd and 5th units, sources say.
The Engineering Department officials have a dual task on hand, one to try and plug the gaping hole while also trying to ensure that the millions of gallons of water does not damage the power generation equipment. According to sources, officials have already deployed six motors to pump out the water.
Officials tried to assuage worries that the power production equipment has already been damaged by saying, There is no cause of worry. The officials are taking all steps to contain damage caused due to water. The power generation will not be affected by the hole. It is expected that the gaping hole could be fixed by evening.
This is not the first time that power production in the Srisailam Hydro Power Project has been affected due to inundation. The 770 MW Right Bank power house had been submerged during the massive floods in October 2009, shutting down power production for over three months. It took three months and over Rs 100 crore to get the plant to produce power again.
Earlier the plant got submerged in October 1998 floods, it took about 10 days for the AP Genco to pump out the water and over two months for the BHEL to salvage the equipment and restore it. That had cost the government over Rs 70 crore. With the copious inflows into Srisailam Dam, power generation in both the 900-MW left bank power project and 770-MW right bank power house has commenced, bringing cheer to the power-starved State.
News Posted: 7 September, 2010
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