In an outstanding display of moving towards ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’, NHPC Limited undertook in-house troubleshooting and restoration of a Gas Insulated Switchgear (GIS) of Unit-II of its 132 MW Teesta Low Dam-III Power Station in West Bengal amidst COVID – 19 lockdown. This was the first time that such work was done successfully without the help of an overseas Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). NHPC has saved crores of rupees and precious time by carrying out the task completely in-house. The Power Station’s team had been strongly motivated and given the go-ahead by Shri A.K. Singh, Chairman & Managing Director, NHPC.
The task was undertaken by the Power Station on a war-footing basis from 03.06.2020 till 06.06.2020 and achieved with the successful synchronizing of Unit-II with the Grid. The rectification work was led by Md. Sajid Akhter, Senior Manager (E&C) and Shri Apurbo Kumar Sarkar, Deputy Manager (Electrical) of the Power Station.
GIS is a compact metal encapsulated Switchgear consisting of components such as Circuit-breakers, Isolators, Earth-switches etc., which can be safely operated in confined spaces wherein Sulphur Hexafluoride (SF6 ) Gas is the insulating medium. Generally, these types of specialized works get outsourced to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) overseas.
In case of NHPC’s TLDP-III Power Station the outsourcing of GIS had been vested to M/s Siemens, Grenoble, France. The delay in confirming the availability of the OEM amid COVID-19 Global Pandemic Lockdown was causing Power Generation loss in Crores of Rupees.
