Renovated BBMB turbine damaged
24 MW additional loss to Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan
Tribune News Service
Gurdaspur, September 2
Another newly renovated BBMB turbine at Kotla power house has been damaged increasing the loss of generation to more than 50 MW. The sources told The Tribune that the runner blade of the turbine has developed a deep crack due to which the generation from the turbine had to be stopped causing a generation loss of 25 MW to partner states—Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.
According to sources the repair of the damaged turbine could take months as its runner would have to be replaced. This will mean more bad news for the power starved states like Punjab and Haryana.
Already a turbine at Ganguwal has been down for renovation. The Dehar power project of the BBMB had stopped generation after water entered it due to a rupture in protection shield.
Earlier in June this year a renovated turbine at Ganguwal power house of BBMB had got damaged. Both the damaged turbines were renovated by Bharat Heavy Electrical Ltd. (BHEL).
The damage to two recently renovated turbines has put a question mark on the renovation of smoothly working old turbines carried out by the organisation. The organisation in the recent past has spent crores on renovating old turbines in Ganguwal and Kotla power houses. The Ganguwal and Kotla power houses of the BBMB are located on the Nangal hydel mainline canal. The generation at the power house is at its peak in this season as water at its full capacity is released in the canal.
The turbines had been giving trouble ever since their renovation was completed by the BHEL. It was proposed that the after renovation the generation capacity of the turbines would be increased to 25.2 MW. However, the generation of renovated turbines never reached the proposed target. Due to this the generation capacity of the turbines was set at 24 MW at a board meeting. The PSEB authorities as members of the board demanded that BHEL should be penalised for the loss of generation.
Besides the generation loss the renovated turbines also kept on giving technical problems. Due to problems in runners vibrations in turbines are more than normal. The sources inside the power houses told that if generation from renovated turbines was increased to optimum then oil started leaking from the seals.
The other turbines of the Ganguwal and Kotla power houses are being renovated by Japanese company Hitachi.
The renovation of turbines at right hand bank power house of Bhakra was carried out by the Russian company that had originally supplied the turbines.
The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Punjab