Telangana intensifies power generation from Krishna dams
TS Genco continues to generate hydel power at irrigation projects over river Krishna at the rate of almost 30 MW per day since June 29
HYDERABAD: Notwithstanding the stiff resistance and complaints by the Andhra Pradesh government, TS Genco (Generation Corporation) continues to generate hydel power at irrigation projects over river Krishna at the rate of almost 30 MW per day since June 29 with the security cover provided by the Ts government by deploying a large police force at the dams.
The total installed capacity of hydel power in Telangana state is 2,441 MW. Of this, over 90 per cent is from projects on the Krishna. Nagarjunasagar, Srisailam, Pulichintala and Jurala projects comprise 2,369 MW of the installed capacity.
The TS Genco has produced over 100 MW power for the last four days since June 29, when the tussle erupted over generation of hydel power with the Andhra Pradesh government complaining to the Centre against Telangana state.
TS Genco is utilising hydel power to operate the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation pumps, which require a large amount of power. The government is incurring heavy expenditure on account of using thermal power. To overcome this, the state government has decided to utilise cheaper hydel power to the maximum extent during monsoon, which is suitable for hydel power generation when inflows will be huge in projects.
The TS government has started lifting Godavari water from the Kaleshwaram project to fill reservoirs starting from Medigadda, Annaram, Sundilla to Mid-Manair project and Mallannasagar, using what are called ‘Bahubali motors’ for their size. The Srisailam Left Bank Canal has the highest installed capacity of 900 MW followed by Nagarjunasagar (815 MW), Lower Jurala (240 MW), Jurala (234 MW), Pulichintala (120MW) and Nagarjunasagar left canal (60MW).
At Srisailam, the TS Genco produced 9.72 MW power on June 29, 12.97 MW on June 30 and 13.79 MW on July 1. At Nagarjunasagar, it generated 6.76 MW on June 29, 16.12 MW on June 30 and 15.95 MW on July 1. At Pulichintala, it has produced 0.06 MW on June 29, 0.55 on June 30 and 0.80 on July 1.
These figures indicate that TS Genco has been increasing generation at all projects day after day while AP government is stepping up opposition. The hydel generation is not being taken up at a single project on river Godavari due to poor water levels in Singur which has installed capacity of 15 MW, Nizamsagar (10 MW), Pochampad (36 MW), Peddapalli mini-hydro (9.2 MW) and Palair mini-hydro (2 MW). There is zero production in these projects at present.