ISLAMABAD: The 969 MW Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower project (NJHPP) was closed down on Wednesday night till the first week of March 2024 for inspection of its 3.5-km Tail Race Tunnel and maintenance of turbines. This will aggravate the ongoing electricity load-shedding.
However, the period of closure will be revisited after the inspection of the tunnel, a senior official of Wapda told The News.
“The closure of the project till the first week of March 2024 will not only cause more reliance on thermal power generation, which is costlier if compared with the electricity cost of NJHPP. It will also aggravate the electricity availability crisis in the country,” he said.
The country is already facing a power deficit mainly because of canal closures, leading to less production of hydroelectric power. Also, two LNG-based power plants are not operational due to lack of fuel and the closure of imported coal-based power plants.
The loadshedding is also aggravated because of the faults that happen, every winter, in the Guddu power plant on account of tripping of multiple grid stations in the Multan region and other DISCOs.
Owing to fog, the grid stations of 132kv, 220kv, and 500kv trip every year, leaving a big question mark on the inaction of authorities. The NTDC has repaired the faults but the country is still in the grip of a power crisis. It may be noted that the Power Division minister has already constituted a two-member committee to probe as to why in every winter power breakdown occurs due to failure of the transmission system, mainly because of faults that emerge in the Guddu power plant. “We have made the Neelum-Jehlum hydropower project non-functional for inspection of the Tail Race tunnel, which was rehabilitated and made operational and functional on August 6, 2023. The tunnel had collapsed on July 6, 2022,” a senior official of Neelum-Jehlum Hydropower project Company (NJHPPC) confirmed to The News. “We fully ran the project and generated electricity up to its full capacity of 969 MW after the tunnel was repaired but right now the project is generating only 150-180 MW in the wake of low water flows in the Neelum River.” “The dewatering of the tunnel will take two to three weeks and inspection of the tunnel will take place. More importantly, the maintenance of the turbines would also be carried out.”
