NHPC in India has launched a cloud-based software that offers an early warning system for its hydroelectric projects.
Hydroelectric projects are usually located in mountainous areas and are vulnerable to many types of disasters, such as landslide, cloudburst, flood, avalanche, GLOF (glacial lake outburst floods) and LLOF (landslide lake outburst floods), among other hazards. In recent years, the Himalayan region has experienced several calamities, resulting in flash floods in the downstream areas, in which many lives have been lost and hydroelectric projects and other infrastructure have been damaged.
A natural calamity in February 2021 in the Chamoli District of Uttarakhand badly damaged a few hydroelectric projects and resulted in great loss of human lives and property, NHPC said. The Ministry of Power (MoP) subsequently constituted a committee for a short-term and long-term weather forecast and early warning system to be put in place for such vulnerable projects.
The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) identified 47 vulnerable projects across the country, which are generally located above an elevation of 1500 m or those that are first in the basin. Out of these, 10 belong to NHPC Limited and two belong to CVPPPL (A joint venture company between NHPC and JKSPDC).
Under guidelines issued by CEA/MoP, the owners of such projects were directed to establish early warning systems in the form of automatic water level recorders (AWLR) with telemetry at gauge and discharge sites at the appropriate distance upstream of the dam/barrage or maintain close coordination with upstream projects (if any) so that the sufficient lead time is available to project authorities for taking safety measures in case of any disaster. The specific projects to be monitored by the system were not disclosed.
The installed software will enable tight monitoring of water levels/discharge of tributaries/rivers, along with close coordination with the project/power station upstream and downstream of the projects on a real-time basis, NHPC said. It also will issue alerts/warnings to concerned project authorities/stakeholders and local administration to give people time to react during floods, enabling local administration and people to evacuate or shelter before a flood.
NHPC was also given the responsibility of setting up a master control room facility for monitoring the functioning of the early warning system of such vulnerable hydroelectric projects in the country belonging to the public/state/private sector. The software application has been integrated with inputs from the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) on a real-time basis for strengthening the forecasting/alerts.
All projects associated with NHPC and CVPPPL have been configured with this application. Hydroelectric projects belonging to other developers can also take advantage of this software portal in the future, NHPC said.
