The Mandu Hydropower Plant, which was damaged by the flood in the Bagmati River caused by continuous rainfall on October 27 and 28, has resumed electricity generation. After completing reconstruction, the Mandu Hydropower Plant has restarted power production.

In the first phase, the project has generated only 50 percent of its capacity. The Mandu Hydropower Plant has a generation capacity of 22 megawatts.

“After completing reconstruction, we are currently generating 11 megawatts in the first phase,” said Manoj Singh, Senior Technician at Mandu Hydropower. “We will soon generate electricity at full capacity. Due to some technical issues, we have so far produced only 50 percent of our capacity.”

Reconstruction of the hydropower plant damaged by the Bagmati flood was started last November. The flood and landslide in the Bagmati River had damaged the headworks, powerhouse, penstock pipe, and electricity tower of the Mandu Hydropower Plant, which had been generating electricity from its production facility located at Bagmati Dobhan in Bhimphedi Rural Municipality–8, Makwanpur.

Chief Executive Officer Sundar Shrestha said that the flood caused damages of over one billion rupees to the hydropower plant, which has been generating 22 megawatts of electricity since 2018.

“The Bagmati flood caused damage to the hydropower plant beyond anything we had imagined, but we have repaired it and resumed electricity generation,” Shrestha said. The flood had also severely damaged the road from Sisneri Bazaar to the project site.

Electricity has been generated from the Bagmati River through joint investment by the private-sector Mandu Hydropower Company and a Chinese company. With support from Sichuan Heichuang Company, Mandu Hydropower Company began construction of the Bagmati Small Hydropower Project in May 2015 with an investment of four billion rupees.

The project was inaugurated on April 1, 2019. Mandu Hydropower Company had signed an agreement with the Nepal Electricity Authority to sell the electricity produced at Rs 4.40 per unit during the rainy season and Rs 8.40 per unit in winter.

The project’s powerhouse is located 13.5 kilometers from the Kulekhani I substation. To transmit the generated electricity to the Kulekhani I substation, 42 towers were constructed, two of which were damaged by the flood.

Source: Kantipur