The Hindu Business Line : Ghatghar Hydroelectric Project may be completed on May 27

Talking to Business Line, Mr V.C. Shelke, Chief Engineer, Koyna Project, said the project, which has three dams, has so far completed the upper and the saddle portion and about 95 per cent of the lower dam has been completed.

He said an investment of Rs 1,200 crore has been utilised for the project. While Rs 400 crore has come in from Japanese Bank of India Co-operation (formerly known as the Overseas Economic Co-operation of Japan), another Rs 400 crore from the Power Finance Corporation, and the remaining from the Government of Maharashtra. He said about Rs 1,000 crore has been utilised so far.

Two reservoirs

The Ghatghar Pumped Storage Scheme provides for installation of two reversible pump turbine/generator motor units, each of 125-MW in an underground powerhouse.

The scheme has two reservoirs - upper reservoir near village Ghatghar (district Ahmednagar) and lower reservoir near village Chonde Budruk (district Thane).

The upper dam will be a gravity dam about 478 m long and 15.50 m high located on Pravara River.

It will provide storage of 5.87 million cubic metres required for the operation of the pump storage scheme.

The lower dam will also be a gravity dam about 390 m long and 82 m high at the deepest section located on Shai Nalla at the foot of the continental divide.

It will provide gross storage of 3.80 million cubic metres.

Power generation

Mr Shelke said 450 million units of power would be generated every year, which would be transferred to the grid. The equipment testing would be conducted in November and commercial operations would begin in January 2007.

This is the first time that the RCC is being adopted in India and for the Ghatghar project, he said about 60 per cent fly ash has been used instead of cement, that is traditionally used.

It may be recalled that the State Government of Maharashtra had announced in its 2002-03 budget that it proposed an additional 654.25MW of installed capacity for its hydroelectric projects. This included 250MW for the Ghatghar Pumped Storage Hydro Electric Project as well as 391.5 MW for the Sardar Sarovar scheme, an inter-State project that will benefit Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra.

Increasing demand for both drinking water and electricity due to a growing population in Maharashtra has led to an increase in hydropower projects.

Asked about other projects using the RCC, Mr Shelke said that include the Srisailam Weir project in Andhra Pradesh and Middle Vaitharna Dam in Mumbai. Another project in Sawalkot in Jammu and Kashmir would also be undertaken which would begin construction by the end of the year, he added.