Production of the 10 MW Lower Modi-1, which operates in the mountains, has been halted for the past three weeks. Production has come to a standstill after the project was damaged by the flood triggered on September 3.
The construction company has stated that the project operated by United Modi Hydropower Company has been damaged beyond repair. The floods have damaged the canal, dam site, share wall, slab, and other structures of the project. Even though there was no damage to the power plant, it took time to pass water from the canal.
Tower number four of the 132 KV transmission line connecting Modi substation to the powerhouse of the project has also been demolished. Along with the collapse of the tower, a 500-meter section of the water canal to be sent to the lower Modi-1 powerhouse has been flooded with mud, including mud, and an area of about one km has been damaged. Besides, the power transmission tower built by the United Modi Project has also collapsed.
The project office has estimated that the construction of the tower alone will cost around Rs 15 million. Managing Director of United Modi Hydropower Company, Upendra Gautam, informed that the project is losing up to Rs. 1.1 million daily due to power outages.
He said that more than Rs. 50 million has been spent on the project due to floods and landslides. He said that the repair work is going on now and it will take some more time to complete it. The loss of the structure of the project and the electricity generated so far alone has reached around Rs 70 million.
The power transmission of Dhaulagiri was cut off for about two weeks when the tower of the transmission line constructed by United Modi Company was demolished by the landslide on the same day. The company said it would take a few more months to rebuild the tower. After the delay in the construction of the tower, the Electricity Authority has made temporary arrangements for the transmission line and sent it to the transmission line in Myagdi and Mustang.
“For now, we have built a temporary tower and sent the products of Myagdi and Mustang to the national transmission line,” said Chandan Kumar Ghosh, head of the Kaligandaki Transmission Corridor project.
The 42-megawatt Mistrikhola of Annapurna-4 Narchang of Myagdi, the five-megawatt Ghalemdikhola of Myagdi, and the 13.6-megawatt Thapakhola Thapakhola hydropower project of Thasang-1 Tukuche of Mustang were being transmitted through the same tower.
Apart from United Modi’s Tallomodi-1, the electricity of Myagdi and Mustang was connected to the national transmission line from September 16. After the completion of the Khurkot-Dana transmission line last January, the electricity generated in Mustang and Myagdi was also connected to the national transmission line through this route.