Electricity generation has been temporarily halted at the 50-megawatt Upper Marsyangdi ‘A’ Hydropower Project, located in Bhulbhule, Marsyangdi Rural Municipality, Lamjung, for maintenance purposes. The project authorities stated that the maintenance work began with permission from the Nepal Electricity Authority while the plant was producing 28 megawatts during the winter season.

Karna Adhikari, the Public Relations Officer of the project, confirmed the suspension of electricity production for maintenance. He mentioned that the work is being overseen by a Chinese company, and, due to the technical nature of the tasks, he does not have further details at this time.

The project has outlined a maintenance schedule from Saturday to Friday and has already started work on the power plant, which has temporarily halted electricity production. Maintenance in the dam area has been underway for the past two weeks and is expected to continue for at least three months. However, this work will not require a complete shutdown of electricity generation.

The maintenance in the dam area is being carried out by the Chinese company ‘Bureau Seven’ in collaboration with a Nepali construction contractor. Meanwhile, turbine maintenance and other repairs at the power plant are being handled by a team of Chinese engineers and technical staff, with only Chinese personnel involved in these tasks.

A project source explained, “Floods in the Marsyangdi River have caused sand particles to accumulate in the turbine, leading to damage. The maintenance is focused on removing these particles.”

Although the project has two Francis turbines, there is no need to replace them, as this is part of the routine annual maintenance procedure.

The Upper Marsyangdi ‘A’ Hydropower Project is the first hydropower plant in Nepal built with Chinese investment. The project has faced damage during the monsoon season due to floods in the Marsyangdi River, prompting periodic maintenance.

According to a project source, the plant produces over 1 million units of electricity daily. The project incurs a loss of 500,000 Nepali rupees for every hour of shutdown. If it is shut down for an entire day (24 hours), the loss could amount to around 12 million rupees.

The Upper Marsyangdi ‘A’ Hydropower Project, with an investment of approximately 16 billion Nepali rupees, is financed 90% by the Chinese multinational company Sinohydro and 10% by Nepal’s Chitwan-based KOI Group (Sagarmatha Hydropower Company). The project, which began in January 2013 and was completed in four years, started commercial electricity production in January 2017.

Source: Kantipur