Shivamogga: A committee made up of retired engineers of the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd and Central Power Research Institute will look into the fire which reduced vital installations of the Sharavathy generating station at Jog Falls to ashes Thursday evening and also assess the loss suffered by the accident.
Announcing this, here , Energy Minister, D.K.Shivakumar, who visited the power station on Friday, said it would be checked thoroughly for defects and be overhauled with the latest technology.
He also announced a reward of Rs one lakh for the four housekeeping staff, who saved the lives of three engineers and prevented further damage to the plant. Noting that the Sharavathy generating station was the heart of the Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd, the minister said the state would now have to buy power from outside to make up for the shortfall.
“The state has lost 800 MW of power produced at this station due to the fire. So the government will buy power from outside to meet the demand from the agriculture, industrial and domestic sectors,” he assured.
According to the official report, the fire broke out at around 4.30 pm on Thursday after a single phase- to -earth fault at the 220kv capacity Sharavathy-Talguppa 3- ST 3 caused 21.6 kilo amps of power to flow back towards the earthing panel.
Nine units were immediately shut down and three engineers, who were in the control room, were rescued safely with help of four housekeeping staff. The police and the fire brigade were alerted and the fire was doused in a few hours. While the fire gutted the relay protection scheme and cable duct, the main equipment such as power generator, transformer, switch yard, breakers, and isolators were not damaged thanks to the timely action taken by the labourers, contract workers and officials at the spot, the report said.
