Maintenance work initiated after an issue arose in one of the two units of the Kulekhani III Hydropower Centre located in Sanutar of Bhimphedi Rural Municipality, Makwanpur, has been completed.

The maintenance, which began due to a fault in the generator plate of one unit, was completed after 15 days on Tuesday.

Centre Chief Prashanna Mani Tamrakar informed that replacement work was carried out along with the alignment of the turbine and generator following a problem in the isolation plate of one unit.

He stated that from Tuesday onwards, electricity production has resumed from both units of Kulekhani III.

After the alignment of the turbine and generator was completed on Monday afternoon, a load test was conducted as per the advice of the Chinese technicians involved in the maintenance to check if the alignment was proper. He added that the test was successful, and the maintenance work is now complete.

Since early May, one unit of Kulekhani III had been facing problems, and even Kulekhani I could not operate at full capacity during the peak demand period for electricity.

Tamrakar mentioned that when Kulekhani I operates at full capacity, Kulekhani III can produce between 12.3-12.8 Megawatt-hours of electricity.

According to him, although Kulekhani III has a capacity to generate 14 megawatts, it cannot currently run at full capacity due to the unavailability of water from the local Khanikhola stream for the project.

The combined capacity of all three Kulekhani centres is 106 megawatts, with Kulekhani I at 60 MW, Kulekhani II at 32 MW, and Kulekhani III at 14 MW.

Electricity production from the Kulekhani project has been contributing to balancing the supply during periods of high demand.

By Rammani Dahal