ANGUL: Power generation from the Odisha Hydra Power Corporation (OHPC) units at Rengali was hampered due to low level of water in Rengali reservoir on Saturday. It has a total power generation capacity of 250 mega watt (MW).
Water level came down to a record 109.72 metre level as against the full capacity of 123.5 meter due to want of rainfall in upper reaches like at Rourkela and Jharkhand. Minimum level of water for power generation is 109.7 m in the dam.
Due to the shortfall of water in the current season, power generation was being carried out intermittently in low load since June 1 in the hydro power units. The normal generation takes place when the water level remains at 115 m in the dam.
Confirming the situation, senior general manager of OHPC Subrat Sarangi said corporation had to curtail power generation from the units due to record low level of water in the dam. He said the plant cannot run in such situation as it would vibrate and damage the machines in the units.
Sarangi said unlike last year, this time rainfall is scanty in its upper reaches at Rourkela and Jharkhand due to which water has come down to about 109 m at present.
“In such a situation, we had to regulate power generation without running daily in full load. We are waiting for good rains in the coming days so that water would go up to at least 110 m to enable us to run the units.
We cannot further take water level further down for the sake of power as it is needed downstream for domestic and industrial consumption,” said Sarangi. The Rengali-based hydro power plant has a total five 50 MW units. It has a power purchase agreement with GRIDCO. The OHPC has a target to generate 525 million units power per year.