THDC Awaits Clearance From Uttarakhand Wildlife Board for Vishnugad Pipalkoti Project

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources India (New Delhi, India)--Although India's state-owned enterprise THDC India Limited (THDC) (Rishikesh, Uttarakhand) has acquired the much-awaited, Stage 2 forest clearance for its 444-megawatt (MW) Vishnugad Pipalkoti hydroelectric project in Uttarakhand state, the execution of the beleaguered project is still stuck in a quagmire as the State Board for Wildlife (SBWL) has yet to grant clearance for the diversion of 80.51 hectares of forest land.

India's National Board of Wildlife (NBWL) already has recommended this project to the country's Ministry of Environment and Forests for grant of the much-needed forest clearance, but the recommendation is subject to the approval of SBWL. In a recent missive to the Uttarakhand government, the power utility has thus requested the state to hold a meeting with SBWL at the earliest, so that it can make some progress on this long-stalled project.

THDC is implementing this project on Alaknanda River in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand. This World Bank-funded project was accorded approval by the government of India in August 2008, and the loan agreement was signed with the World Bank in August 2011.

The awarding of contract for civil and hydro-mechanical packages for the project has been held up due to the pending forest clearance. Pre-qualification bids for electro-mechanical contract were opened on December 21, 2012.

The run-of-river project involves construction of a 65-meter-high diversion on the Alaknanda River for power generation. The reservoir will have a gross storage capacity of 3.63 million cubic meters, out of which 2.47 million cubic meters will be live-storage. The water conductor system of the project would comprise three intake tunnels and underground sedimentation chambers; a head race tunnel; a surge shaft; and two pressure shafts bifurcating into four penstocks.

The powerhouse comprises two separate underground caverns for the installation of turbines and transformers. The project would afford an annual energy generation of 1,813.03 gigawatt-hours, assuming a 90% performance.

THDC currently has 15 projects with a total installed capacity of 8,770 MW, which are under various stages of development. Five other hydroelectric projects, in the Bhagirathi, Alaknanda and Sarda valleys in Uttarakhand, with a total capacity of 742 MW, are under survey and investigation. Further, the company is implementing a 24-MW hydropower project at Dhukwan, on Betwa River, and a 1,320-MW, coal-fired thermal power project at Khurja, in the neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh.

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