The 22-megawatt Mandu Hydropower Project, which was damaged by the Bagmati floods on Sep 27 and 28 last year, has resumed electricity generation at full capacity from Thursday. After completing reconstruction, Mandu Hydropower had started generating electricity at 50 percent capacity from july 3.

“Electricity generation has started at full capacity from Thursday,” said Manoj Singh, senior technician at Mandu Hydropower. After reconstruction, 11 megawatts were produced in the first phase. The reconstruction of the structures damaged by the flood had begun last Nov/Dec. More than 60 people, including technicians and workers, were deployed daily for the task.

The road from Sisneri Bazaar to the project site had also been severely damaged by the flood. Mandu Hydropower carried out road maintenance and opened access to the project site, thereby advancing the reconstruction work.

Mandu Hydropower, which has been generating electricity from its power station located at Bagmati Dobhan in Bhimphedi Rural Municipality–8, Makwanpur, had its headworks, powerhouse, penstock pipe, and transmission towers damaged by floods and landslides. The project had been generating 22 megawatts of electricity since 2018. according to Sundar Shrestha, the Chief Executive Officer of the hydropower project.

Electricity has been generated from the Bagmati River through joint investment of the private-sector Mandu Hydropower Company and a Chinese company. With the support of the Chinese company Sichuan Heichuang, Mandu Hydropower began construction of the Bagmati Small Hydropower Project in May 2015 with an investment of 4 billion rupees. The project was inaugurated on April 2, 2019. Water from the Bagmati and Kogate rivers was diverted by constructing a 10 to 13-meter-high dam at the confluence of Ipa Panchakanya, and then channeled through a tunnel to the powerhouse at Bagarbensi in Ipa Panchakanya to generate electricity.

The flood had also damaged the 55-meter-long dam built on the Bagmati River. Through this dam, 12.4 cubic feet of water per second flows into the tunnel. The powerhouse is located 2,440 meters away from the dam. The company has an agreement to sell the electricity produced by the project to the Nepal Electricity Authority at Rs. 4.40 per unit during the monsoon season and Rs. 8.40 per unit in winter.

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

Source: Republica