Upper Marshyangdi ‘A’ Hydroelectric Project located in Lamjung district has not been able to transmit entire electricity it has been generating to the grid due to a technical glitch that burnt down one of the devices.

The 50MW project, which began commercial operation four months ago, is currently using two turbines to generate electricity of 25 MW each. However, the project has not been able to evacuate electricity generated by one of the turbines after one of the high-voltage circuit breakers went kaput around three weeks ago. “It took us time to initiate the maintenance work because the device had to be imported from China,” Karna Adhikari, chief of the project’s public relations department, said. “The device is already here. We’ll replace it within few weeks.”

A joint-venture between China’s Sino Hydro and Sagarmatha Power Company, the run-of-the-river project began construction in 2012. Sino Hydro holds a 90 percent stake in the project, while Sagarmatha Power Company owns the rest.

Upper Marshyangdi ‘A’ is the first hydropower project built with foreign direct investment. It was built at a cost of Rs16 billion. The powerhouse of the project is located at Bhulbhule-3 and a 6.5-km-long tunnel has been built to deliver water to the powerhouse from the dam site located at Bhulbhule-5.

Although the construction of the project was hit by 2015 earthquakes and border blockade, the developer managed to complete the construction works on time.

The project began producing 25 MW of electricity using its first turbine on November 4. It started generating another 25 MW of electricity using the second turbine on December 23.

However, with the onset of winter, water level in the river basin has gone down, restricting the project’s electricity generating capacity to around 30 to 35 MW.