DJ Venkatesh
Diglipur, Oct 13: The Chief Secretary, Mr Anand Prakash, Secretary (Home), Secretary (Education) and Secretary (Agriculture) visited the Kalpong Hydro-Electric Power (KHEP) Project on Kalpong river at Nabagram, North Andaman on Monday.
The dam, dedicated to the nation on Nov 2001, is the only hydro power project in these islands. The 5.25 MW project is 34 metre high with 138 metre long concrete dam, 27 meters high and 146 metes long rockfill dam, 300 metre long link channel, 133 metre long tunnel, 3 penstocks, a power house with three units of 1.75 MW each and a Switchyard.
Speaking to Andaman Sheekha, the Superintending Engineer, Electricity, Mr U K Paul informed that the power project currently generates 5 MW of power, highest since the commissioning of the project. The power generated from the Dam is supplied to the entire of Diglipur region besides Mayabunder and Tugapur areas round the clock.
The surplus power generated also saves about Rs 3-3.25 lakh rupees daily as the requirement of a 20,000 ltr. Diesel Generator Set at Sitanagar has been done away with. Even the three Diesel Generators installed at Chengappa bridge are not in operation. With no leakage of water, the Hydro Electric Power Project at Kalpong in currently offering 95.4% efficiency, the Power SE informed.
