A team of senior executives of the Telangana State Power Generation Corporation (TS-Genco), who are examining the damage and loss left behind by the fire accident in the underground Srisailam Left Bank Hydro Electric Station near Eegalapenta in Nagarkurnool district, have come to a near conclusion that the fourth unit of the 6×150 megawatt hydel project is almost lost.
Preliminary assessment by the team has assessed that the damage to the unit was huge. The team went inside the power station in spite of high heat on Monday to examine the damage.
Engineers working hard
“We are unable to assess the damage completely in one go due to the adverse conditions inside as the air-exhaust facility is yet to be restored. Engineers are working hard to restore power supply in the entire power station in phases first to enable proper assessment of the damage,” sources in the Genco told The Hindu on Monday.
It was at the fourth unit that sparks in the panel board led to the fire accident that cost nine lives, including five engineers and two other employees of Genco and two employees of a private firm, besides leaving huge financial and generation loss in the August 20 night mishap. “Against 398.1 million units of energy generation during August last year, the hydel station has generated 399.27 million units of energy with lowest generation cost this August, till the mishap occurred at around 10.35 p.m. on August 20,” the official said.
Since flood is continuing into Srisailam and more flood days are forecast this season, the Genco had plans to better the last year’s record of generating 1,993 MU energy in SLBHES this year till the fire accident dashed the hopes. “We still have plans to resume generation in the first two units of the project as soon as possible, although we are still in the stage of damage assessment,” a senior official stated.
It is being assumed that loss there could be heavy damage in the remaining units too, where it has not been possible to reach and examine properly so far, the sources said. “We are unable to arrive at clear assessment about the exact damage due to heat and other adverse conditions such as seepage of water, which otherwise would have been pumped out automatically,” the official sources said.
