Bhutan Hydropower Services Limited or BHSL in Jigmeling under Sarpang has started manufacturing hydropower turbines. The company was first established in 2014 to cater to hydropower in the country. It has helped save millions spend in repairing turbines and their components.
As per the Officiating CEO, they could restore around 21 turbines for hydro powers in Bhutan since its inception and manufactured two turbines for Turkey and Himachal Pradesh in India in 2018. The company is also manufacturing turbines for the Hydropower Plants in the country.
“We are able to manufacture successfully and dispatched two Francis runners, one for Bajoli Holi in Himachal Pradesh and one for Alpaslan Hydro Power Plant in Turkey. From 2020, we started manufacturing for the first time Pelton runner. We successfully completed and dispatched one runner for the Basochhu Hydropower plant,” said Pelden Dukpa, the Offtg. CEO of the BHSL.
According to him, the production of turbines in the country will also save costs and develop local expertise. Bhutan used to import hydropower turbines from Korea and France. However, he said getting raw materials has been challenging due to the pandemic. It takes a year to manufacture one turbine which cost about Nu 100 M.
“The cost would be a little cheaper because we are saving transportation costs here and more so we are able to do more on our own. We are able to build competency. There are lots of orders in the pipeline. We are now ready with a good number of experts to take up the manufacture of runners and other components.”
The company is building a turbine for the Tala Hydropower Plant today. According to Tshering Penjor, the Head of Engineering Unit of the BHSL, power fluctuation during the monsoon often hampers the progress of their work.
“There are power fluctuations occurring every couple of days, we have some minor machine tripping with power fluctuation. So it affects the production. If there is an uninterrupted power supply, progress would be better,” he said.
Meanwhile, to ensure uncompromised quality, the manufacturing is done through Computer Numerical Control. Meaning tools used for building the turbines are controlled through a computer.
Since a good chunk of the revenue is from hydropower, this engineering feat will only help in increasing the revenue by cutting down on the dependency of hydropower components on other countries. The company plans to meet local demands and cater to other countries as well.
Karma Wangdi, Gelegphu
Edited by Sonam
