Record generation at Nathpa Jhakri
38.5 million units of electricity produced in a day
Tribune News Service

Shimla, August 30
The 1,500-MW Nathpa Jhakri hydroelectric project has generated a record 38.5 million units of electricity in a single day. The country’s largest hydroelectric project is designed to generate 36 million units in a day and 6,950 million units in a year. No other hydropower project in the country has achieved such high-level of generation till date.

It achieved another milestone yesterday when the total generation from the project commissioned in 2003 crossed the 4,000 crore units.

During the current year, it has generated 3,838 million units so far which was about 400 million units short of the target assigned by the Union Power Ministry. The shortfall has been on account of repeated shutdown of the project due to high-level of silt in the Sutlej river. The project remained closed for 22 days.

The situation has improved since last week as discharge in the Sutlej declined to 850 cumecs and the level of silt has come down to 2,200 ppm (parts per million) which was well below the permissible limits. Last year, the project generated a record 7,012 million units against a target of 6,600 million units. The target for the current year is 6,700 million units.