India’s largest Hydropower Project, in the Private Sector Karcham Wangtoo (1000 MW) in Kinnaur District of Himachal Pradesh is scheduled for commissioning by August 15, that is three months prior of schedule as against the original schedule date of Nov 17, 2011.
The construction of this 1000 Mega Watt capacity Karcham Wangtoo hydro electric project is expected at around Rs.7000 crore, which is built as run-of-the-river project over the river Sutlej in Kinnaur District by Jaypee Karcham Hydro Corporation Ltd, (JKHCL) a subsidiary of the Jaypee Group. The project will utilise the head available between the tail waters of Baspa-II hydroelectric project in Kinnaur and the head waters of Nathpa- Jhakri hydroelectric project. The project’s reach is between Karcham and Wangtoo villages in Kinnaur, upstream of Nathpa- Jhakri.
The four turbines of 250 MW capacity each made by Germany based Andritz Hydro Company has the potential to generate 1,200 MW of hydel power with each turbine has the capacity to generate maximum 306 MW power during peak season depending upon the availability of water and demand for power. The project envisages annual generation of approximately 4358 M U of energy during 90% dependable year.
M D Karcham wangtu hydro electric project D P Goyal said that “The 250 Mega Watt capacity first unit of the project was commissioned on 26th May 2011 Second Unit of 250 Mega Watt capacity was commissioned on 23rd June, 2011. The Third Unit of 250 MW capacity is likely to be commissioned by 20th July, 2011. The last unit of 250 MW capacity is expected to be made operational by August 15, 2011 and thus making it the largest Hydro-electric project to be commissioned in private sector in the Country.
The Company is already running two Hydro-power Projects of 300 MW capacity Baspa-II in Himachal Pradesh and 400 MW capacity Vishnuprayag Hydro-power Project in Uttarakhand having combined capacity of 700 MW. Both the hydro-power projects were completed by the Company before schedule. After the commissioning of 1000 MW capacity Karcham-Wangtoo, the total installed capacity of Jaypee Group will increase to total 1,700 MW. The Company started work on the Rs.7,000 crore Karcham Wangtoo Hydro-power Project on April 1, 2006.
The Project envisages a concrete gravity dam of about 43m high above the river bed. The dam will have six sluice spillway bays of size 9m (width) x 9m (height). The other main components are a 10.48m diameter, 17.2-km long headrace tunnel; 4.75m diameter four pressure shafts; an underground power-house with 4×250 MW installed capacity; and transformer hall and 909m long and 10.48m diameter tailrace tunnel.
For evacuation of power, a 216 km. long transmission line has been set up with total cost of around Rs.1,000 crore by Jaypee Powergrid Limited, a 74:26 joint venture between Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd. and central transmission utility Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (Powergrid). The construction work on these lines is in final stage which is likely to be completed by end of July this year. The 400 kV Wangtoo-Abdullapur (Yamunanagar in Haryana) 400 kV Double Circuit 216 kms. long having 518 towers, transmission line has been constructed from where the power will be injected into Powergrid’s Abdullapur substation located in Haryana. This line has the total carrying capacity of about 3000 MW capacity and will serve all the up-stream up-coming Projects in the Govt. as well as private- sectors in the state and will be used as a common corridor.Around 80% of the power generated is to be sold to Punjab, Haryana, UP and Rajasthan. The remaining 20% is merchant power that would be sold on spot charges basis.said D P Goyal M D Karcham wangtu hydro electric project
The run-of-the-river Project has several special features. The Project has four large underground de-silting chambers to exclude sediment particles down to 0.2 mm with a 5.23 km long silt flushing tunnel, the largest de-silting complex for any Hydro-power Project being implemented till date. The crane beam in the power-house machine hall has been provided on rock ledge by excavating the crown portion of the power-house in a mushroom shape. Also, the runners and other turbine parts have been fully coated with tungsten carbide hard coating to increase their ability to withstand silt damage due to high silt content in the river Satluj during the Monsoon period.
The run-of-the-river project comprises a concrete gravity dam of 88 m. The dam with six sluice spillway bays to divert water through a 17.2 kms long headrace tunnel, 10.48 m diameter to the underground power-house at Wangtoo.
The project will utilize the 269 m head available between the tail waters of the Baspa-II Project and head waters of the Nathpa-Jhakri Project and the total construction cost of the project is likely to be around Rs.7,000 crore.
In order to build local support for the project the Company has spent almost Rs.650 million to undertake various local area development activities besides u-gradation of NH-22 as well as construction of roads and bridges. The Company has also set-up a Higher Secondary School, multi-specialty 40 bedded Hospital and an ITI in the Project area to promote its socio-economic development. Afforestation and construction of fish seed farm were some of the measures undertaken on the environmental management front.
