Telangana : New power line for Medigadda and Annaram pump houses

The new power line would also be useful in lifting additional 1 TMC water from the Kaleshwaram project, officials explained

Hyderabad: Following damage caused to transmission towers due to floods during last July, the Energy Department is constructing towers for a new 220 KV power line to be connected to Annaram and Medigadda Pump Houses of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme.

According to Energy Department officials, the 42 km new line between Annaram Pump House in Manthani mandal of Peddapalli District to Medigadda Pump House situated in Kannepalli village of Mahadevpur mandal in Jayashankar Bhupalpally District would be very useful as during power breakdown the additional line could be utilized to continue the pumping of water. The new power line would also be useful in lifting additional 1 TMC water from the Kaleshwaram project, officials explained.

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Instead of relying on a single power line, a new line was being made available as an alternative for the pump houses at a cost of around Rs 100 crore, a senior official said, adding that the new lines would be connected to the 220 KV sub-station already at the pump houses. “Even if there is a problem with one line, the other line can supply electricity without interruption,” he informed. The work is currently in progress and expected to be completed by next year.

The officials claimed that as there was no power supply during the floods the pump houses were inundated and the entire motors were damaged. “If the power supply was there during the floods water could have been pumped out and the losses could have been reduced considerably,” they said.

Due to heavy floods in Godavari River last year, many electricity towers collapsed in the Khanapuram area near Manthani and power supply to the pump house was stopped, hence, the power department is taking steps to prevent such incidents in future.

Both Medigadda and Annaram pump houses submerged during last year’s flood and with great efforts the engineers of the irrigation department fixed the motors in a record time and started the operation. Medigadda pump house is constructed in a way that each unit with a capacity of 40 MWs will lift 60 cusecs of water. It is built 91 metres above Godavari river with a total water lifting capacity of 660 cusecs. Whereas, the Annaram pump house, with a total of eight motors has a lifting capacity of 2 TMC ft water a day.