The Hindu Business Line : NHPC's Dhauliganga project to go on stream in March

NATIONAL Hydroelectric Power Corporation's 280-MW Dhauliganga power project is expected to start generation by March following commissioning of the first of its four 70-MW units.

"The first unit will become functional in March, and the other three units will start generation by August-September 2005," Mr S.K. Aggarwal, General Manager of the project, told newspersons.

The project, located in the greater Himalayan range of the Kumaon region of Uttaranchal, is being executed at an estimated cost of Rs 1,578 crore. The power generated would be supplied to Uttaranchal, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Chandigarh and Delhi. Besides its normal share of power, Uttaranchal would also be entitled to 12-per cent free power from the project.

The project is a run-of-the-river scheme on the Dhauliganga River, a tributary of the Kali on the Indo-Nepal border.

"The civil works included a 56-metre-high concrete face rock-fill dam, a 5.29-km-long tunnel and an underground powerhouse. The project was a tough one due to the difficult terrain and the complexities involved in executing the civil works packages," Mr Aggarwal said.

Generation from the project, however, depends on the completion of a 300-km 220-kV double circuit transmission line from the project site to Bareilly, which is being set up by Power Grid Corporation Ltd.

"We are hoping that the line comes up in time for the March deadline," Mr Aggarwal said.

The project was sanctioned for execution by the Centre in April 1991 at a cost of Rs 601.98 crore (at December 1989 prices). NHPC started construction in February 2000, and the contract packages for the dam and part of the head race tunnel was awarded to the Kajima-Daewoo combine while the powerhouse and another part of the head race tunnel was awarded to the Samsung-HCC joint venture at a cost of Rs 235.86 crore.

The electrical and mechanical works went to a joint venture led by Alstom Hydro of France.

The project is designed to generate 1,134 million units of power in a 90-per cent dependable year.

The power would be evacuated at Elagad to the grid substation at Bareilly to the Northern Grid through the 400-kV circuit transmission line.

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