NHPC to Commission Nimoo Bazgo Hydroelectric Project by October 2012

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources India (Delhi, India)--Following a settlement of a long, drawn-out water-sharing dispute with northern neighboring state Pakistan, India's state-owned hydro electric enterprise, NHPC Limited (BSE:533098) (Faridabad, Haryana), is now gearing up to bring on-stream the first 15 megawatts (MW) of the 45-MW Nimoo Bazgo hydroelectric project in Jammu & Kashmir by October 2012.

Pakistan has been opposing construction of the project, claiming that it would reduce the flow of water into the Indus River in Pakistan, which, according to the country's assumption, is a sheer violation of the Indus Water Treaty, which was signed between India and Pakistan in 1960. Apart from the political resistance, execution of the project has been mired by a host of other geological surprises, such as landslides, flash floods and extreme climatic conditions in the Kashmir Valley. Consequently, the project is running far behind its original commissioning schedule.

The two countries reportedly have attained concurrence on the execution and operation of the project in high-level talks held in New Delhi on July 5, 2012. The Nimoo Bazgo hydroelectric project is a run-of-river scheme, planned to harness the hydropower potential of the Indus River, in the Leh district of Jammu & Kashmir. The project envisages construction of a 57-meter-high concrete gravity dam, three 6.3-meter long penstocks, with a diameter of 3.3 meters each, and a surface power house to install four Vertical Axis Francis Turbine Units of 15 MW capacity each. The project is expected to afford an annual energy generation of 239 million units, assuming a 90% performance.

NHPC has embarked on an ambitious plan to add more than 8,000 MW by the end of 2017. The company plans to add hydroelectric projects totaling about 5,755 MW during the ongoing 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-17) period. The hydropower major also has huge capacity-addition plans for the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2017-22). NHPC intends to construct 13 hydroelectric projects, with a cumulative capacity of about 12,411 MW. These include the 600-MW Tawang-I and the 800-MW Tawang-II projects; the 1,000-MW Pakal Dul project; and the 210-MW Lachen project. If all these projects are completed on time along with the ongoing ones, NHPC's power generation portfolio will reach close to 25,000 MW.

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