Minister for Energy G. Jagadish Reddy on Monday relaunched the first two units of the 6X150 megawatt Srisailam Left Bank Hydroelectric Station near Eegalapenta in Nagarkurnool district that was damaged in a major fire on the night of August 20.
Chairman and managing director of Telangana State Power Generation Corporation (TS-Genco) D. Prabhakar Rao, its directors Ch. Venkata Rajam (Hydel), M. Sachidanandam (Projects) and A. Ajay (Civil), Chief Engineer of Srisailam LBHES M. Prabhakar Rao and other staff of the power station participated during the formal switching-on of the two units.
Trial run successful
Experimental run of Units 1 and 2 was taken up for short durations in phases on October 22 and 23 for checking their vital parameters and, after their synchronisation with the grid on October 23 evening, they had been on trial run till Monday morning, when they were switched off for the formal re-launch.
According to Genco officials, the two units have added 13.28 million units (MU) of energy to the grid during the experimental and trial run from October 22 to 25.
Speaking after the relaunch, Mr. Jagadish Reddy said Units 3, 5 and 6 would be revived and made generation-ready over the next three months. Unit No. 4, which was badly damaged in the fire, would be restored by May-end. The fourth unit was where the blaze broke out on August 20.
Delayed by COVID-19
He said the two units relaunched on Monday were repaired by the engineers of Genco without any assistance from experts outside.
The Minister said the two units could have been relaunched in September, but several engineers and staff of Genco, including its director (Hydel), had contracted COVID-19 during the restoration work. Mr. Reddy said Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had been keeping tab on the work and talking to senior executives frequently.