HYDRO PROJECTS OF JAMMU KASHMIR
The Ratle Hydroelectric project
Ratle is an 850MW run-of-the-river hydroelectric power station currently under construction on the Chenab River, downstream of the village of Ratle, near Drabshalla in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir.
The project is being developed by GVK Ratle Hydro Electric Project, a unit of GVK Power and an independent power producer (IPP).
Construction started in June 2013, with the first power generation expected in 2018. It is estimated that the plant will generate 3136.77GWh of energy in a 90% hydrological-dependable year. It is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by 2.85Mt a year from the atmosphere.
It has cost Rs64.51bn (approximately $1.01bn) and will be one of the biggest hydroelectric power plants in Jammu and Kashmir upon completion.
Ratle is the first hydropower project in India to be awarded on a tariff-based international competitive bidding (ICB) process. The bid was won by GVK Developmental Projects (GVKDPPL), who will develop the project on a build, own, operate and transfer (BOOT) basis. A special purpose vehicle (SPV) named GVK Ratle Hydro Electric Power Project was formed for the development.
GVK will return the project ownership to Jammu and Kashmir state after 35 years of operation. It will be located between the downstream of the 390MW Dulhasti project and upstream of 450MW Baglihar project.Construction work at the 850MW project includes the construction of access roads, a concrete dam, reservoir, diversion tunnels, spillways and power house.
The project includes the construction of a 195m-long and 133m-high concrete gravity dam with a sluice-type spillway that has a capacity to pass a maximum flood of 11,590m³ per second.
A diversion dam, with a submergence area of one million metres squared at full reservoir level (FRL), will be built within the river gorge area. Flood water will be diverted by two diversion tunnels of 11m diameter, which will be built along the right bank of the river.
The intake structures will be located approximately 40m upstream of the dam axis and will be connected to the power house by four steel-lined pressure shafts / tunnels of 6.6m diameter.
Four underground tail race tunnels (TRTs) will be built to release the water back to the river.
The underground powerhouse, to be located at the right bank of the river, will consist of four 205MW Francis turbine-generating units and a 30MW auxiliary power house.
Kiru hydro-electric project
It is a run-of-river scheme is located, in Kishtwar district of J&K State and is about 40 kms from Kishtwar. The Kiru H E Project of 624 MW installed capacity is proposed on river Chenab and envisages construction of 135 m Dam.
The project is being developed by Chenab Valley Power Projects (CVPP), a joint venture between National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC, 49%), Jammu & Kashmir State Power Development Corporation (JKSPDC, 49%) and Power Trading Corporation (PTC, 2%).
The estimated investment in the project is Rs46.4m ($769m). The project was awarded scoping clearance by Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) in September 2008 and revalidated for an installed capacity of 624MW in September 2015.
Environment clearance was issued in June 2016 and the project received approval from the State Administrative Council (SAC) in January 2019. The foundation stone for the hydroelectric power plant was laid in February 2019, while completion is expected by 2023.
The Kiru hydroelectric power project is being built near the villages of Patharnakki and Kiru in Kishtwar, J&K.
The project site lies approximately 1.5km downstream and 0.5km upstream at the convergence point of the Chenab River with the Singad and Bela streams.
The project will be constructed between Kirthai II (upstream) and Kwar (downstream) hydroelectric plants.
The Kiru hydroelectric project will include the construction of a concrete gravity dam on the Chenab River. The dam will be 135m-tall from the deepest foundation level and 123m from the river bed level. It will have a storage capacity of 41.5 million m³ of water.
The project will have a catchment area of 10,225km², while the reservoir will be 6.5km-long and 1.03km² in area. It will have one 700m-long horse-shoe shaped diversion tunnel with two openings.
The lower spillway of the power plant will be of orifice type with a width of 62m and four bays, while the upper spillway will be crest type gated with a width of 31m and two bays.
Water intake will be through four 276m-long penstocks having a diameter of 5.5m each. An underground powerhouse, located at the left bank of the river, will comprise four Vertical Francis turbines with a capacity of 156MW each. It will also have four concrete-lined tailrace tunnels with a design discharge capacity of 146.5 cubic meters per second (cumec).
The project also includes a transformer/draft tube gate cavern measuring 137m-long, 17m-wide, and 15m-high.
Pakal Dul (Drangdhuran) Hydroelectric Project
It is a reservoir based scheme proposed on river Marusudar, the main right bank tributary of river Chenab in Kishtwar Tehsil of Doda District in Jammu & Kashmir.
The Pakal Dul Dam is an under construction concrete-face rock-fill dam on the Marusadar River, a tributary of the Chenab River, in Kishtwar district of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The primary purpose of the dam is hydroelectric power generation. It will divert water to the south through a 10 km (6.2 mi) long headrace tunnel and into power station on the reservoir of the Dul Hasti Dam, on the Chenab. In February 2014, the project was awarded to a consortium of domestic and foreign countries. It includes AFCONS,JP Prakash Associate Bharat Heavy Electricals. Pakistan, who relies on the Chenab downstream, views the dam as a violation of the Indus Water Treaty, whereas India states it is as per Treaty Provisions.
Kishanganga Power station (3x110MW)
It is located on Kishanganga River, a tributary of river Jhelum in Bandipora District of Jammu & Kashmir.
The Kishanganga Hydroelectric Plant is an $864 million run-of-the-river hydroelectric scheme in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir. It diverts water from the Kishanganga River (Neelum River) to a power plant in the Jhelum River basin. It is located 5 km (3 mi) north of Bandipore in Jammu and Kashmir and has an installed capacity of 330 MW.
Construction on the project began in 2007 and was expected to be complete in 2016. Construction on the dam was temporarily halted by the Hague’s Permanent Court of Arbitration (CoA) in October 2011 due to Pakistan’s protest of its effect on the flow of the Kishanganga River (called the Neelum River in Pakistan). In December 2013, the Court ruled that India could divert water for power generation while ensuring a minimum flow of 9 cumecs (m3/s) downstream to Pak Occupied Kashmir.
All three units of 110 MW each were commissioned and synchronized with the electricity grid by 30 March 2018. On 19 May 2018, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the project.
The Kishanganga project includes a 37 m (121 ft) tall concrete-face rock-fill dam which diverts a portion (58.4 m3/sec) of the Kishanganga River south through a 24 km (15 mi) tunnel. The tunnel is received by a surge chamber before sending water to the underground power house which contains 3 x 110 MW Pelton turbine-generators. After the power plant, water is discharged through a tail race channel into Bonar Nallah, another tributary of Jhelum (at 34.473°N 74.635°E). After a short distance the Bonar Nallah drains into the Wular Lake, on the course of the Jhelum River. The drop in elevation from the dam to the power station provides a hydraulic head of 646 m (2,119 ft).
The dam is equipped with a lower level orifice spillway to transfer flood water as well as silt downstream to protect the power generation reliability and the operating life of the project. The arbitration award permitted the lower level orifice spillway as envisaged by India but prohibited the depletion of dead storage.
Dulhasti power station
It is run-of-the-river with pondage scheme with an installed capacity of 390 MW (3 X 130MW) to harness the hydropower potential of river Chenab. It is located in Kishtwar district of Jammu & Kashmir.The power plant is a run-of-the-river type on Chandra River, a tributary of Chenab River, in the Kishtwar region, a rugged, mountainous section of the Himalayas, and several hundred kilometers from larger cities. It consists of a 70 m (230 ft) tall gravity dam which diverts water through a 9.5 km (5.9 mi) long headrace tunnel to the power station which discharges back into the Chenab. The project provides peaking power to the Northern Grid with beneficiary states being Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Delhi and Union Territory of Chandigarh. It was constructed between 1985 and 2007.
Salal power station
It is run-of-the-river scheme with an installed capacity of 690 MW (Stage-I of 3 x115 MW & Stage-II 3 X 115 MW) to harnesses the Hydropower potential of river Chenab. It is located in Reasi district of Jammu & Kashmir.It was the first hydropower project built by India in Jammu and Kashmir under the Indus Water Treaty regime. After having reached a bilateral agreement with Pakistan in 1978, with significant concessions made to Pakistan in the design of the dam, reducing its height, eliminating operating pool, and plugging the under-sluices meant for sediment management, India completed the project in 1987. The concessions made in the interest of bilateralism damaged the long-term sustainability of the dam, which silted up in five years. It currently runs at 57% capacity factor. Its long-term future is uncertain.
The project is located on the Chenab River in the Reasi District, a few kilometres south of Matlot, where the river turns to a southerly course. Pakistan’s Marala Headworks is 72 km (45 mi) downstream, from where the Marala–Ravi Link Canal and the Upper Chenab Canal carry water to various parts of Pakistani Punjab.
The Salal project was conceived in 1920. Feasibility studies on the project commenced in 1961 by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir and a project design was readied by 1968. Construction was started in 1970 by the Central Hydroelectric Project Control Board (under the Government of India’s Ministry of Irrigation and Power). The design of the project contained a two stage powerhouse generating 690 MW power making use of the head created by the dam.
Uri hydroelectric plant
Uri Dam is a 480 MW run-of-the-river power project on the Jhelum River in the Uri area of Baramullah District, Jammu and Kashmir.It is located very near to the Line of Control, the de facto border between India and Pakistan. The station is largely built under a hill with a 10 km tunnel. It is of the run-of-the-river type without a large dam, since the Indus Waters Treaty gives Pakistan the exclusive right to regulate the Jhelum River. On 4 July 2014 a 240 MW Uri-II power project which is a new project located just downstream of Uri I, was inaugurated.
The project was awarded by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation in October 1989 to a European consortium called Uri Civil led by Swedish Skanska and including Swedish NCC and ABB and British Kvaerner Boving. It was partially funded by the Swedish and British governments. The workforce included about 200 foreigners and 4,000 Indians, many from the local area. This together with shelling across the border and unrest related to the burning of Charari Sharief and the siege of Hazratbal Shrine led to an 18-month delay.
The project cost about Rs. 33 billion (about 450 million EUR or 660 million USD) and was completed in 1997.
The station is operated by the NHPC. Plans to expand it with a 250 MW Uri-II plant were announced in 1998. The government of Pakistan has objected to this, saying it violates the Indus Waters Treaty.On 4 July 2014 a 240 MW Uri-II power project which is a new project located just downstream of Uri I, was inaugurated.
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