BHEL commissions first unit of Kishanganga hydro power plant in J&K

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has commissioned the first 110MW unit of the 330MW Kishanganga hydro power plant in Jammu & Kashmir being developed by NHPC.

The Kishanganga hydro electric project (HEP) is being built in Bandipora district on River Kishanganga, a tributary of the Jhelum River with an investment of INR5783.17 crore ($864 million).

The full commissioning of the Kishanganga HEP will see power generation of 1,350 million units of clean electricity per year. Its other two hydro power units are on the verge of being commissioned.

The Kishanganga power project will see diversion of water from the Kishanganga River to the underground power house via a 23.25km long head race tunnel to generate hydro power. The Kishanganga HEP is in accordance with the Indus Waters Treaty inked between India and neighboring Pakistan.

Upstream view of the dam of the Kishanganga hydro power plant. Photo courtesy of NHPC Ltd.

It was in early 2010 that BHEL had won a contract of INR 495 crore ($107 million) to provide the electro-mechanical equipment package for the Kishanganga hydro power plant from NHPC.

The Indian government-owned BHEL was responsible for the design, manufacture, supply, installation and commissioning of vertical shaft pelton turbines and matching synchronous generators, controls and monitoring (SCADA) system and also electrical and mechanical auxiliaries for the Kishanganga HEP as part of the electro-mechanical package.

BHEL supplied the equipment from its manufacturing plants at Jhansi, Bhopal, Bengaluru and Rudrapur. The execution of works on the Kishanganga hydro power plant site was done by BHEL’s Power Sector Northern Region division and Transmission Business Group.

BHEL says that it has commissioned 31 hydro power units with a total capacity of 1.25GW.

Apart from the Kishanganga hydro power plant in Jammu and Kashmir, BHEL is also working on other hydroelectric projects with a total capacity of 2.9GW in India along with 2.94GW hydro power projects in Bhutan.