NHPC to commission over 3,800 MW of delayed projects by 2018

Inching closer to becoming a 10,000 MW utility, the country's largest hydro power producer NHPC plans to commission over 3,800 MW of projects over the next five years, a company official said.

 

"The projects, which were envisaged earlier but got stuck due environmental or contractual issues, will now come up by March 2018," a senior NHPC official told PTI.

 

Five projects with a combined capacity of 3,810 MW are behind their original commissioning schedules.

 

The 2,000 MW Subansiri Lower project in Assam, which was expected to be commissioned by December 2012, is now likely to become operational by December 2017. It had been delayed since December 2011, after the local people raised issues related to its safety and downstream impact.

 

"Parbati-III in Himachal Pradesh, which was stalled due to contractual issues, will now be commissioned in March 2014, delayed by over three years from its original schedule of November 2010," he said. The project's capacity is 520 MW.

 

The Teesta Low Dam Project-IV in West Bengal (160 MW) and Kishanganga in Jammu & Kashmir (330 MW) will be completed by November 2014 and November 2016, respectively.

 

Parbati-II (800 MW) will be commissioned in March 2018. It had been scheduled to be ready by March this year.

 

The company's Uri-II (240 MW) project in J&K was commissioned last month.

 

NHPC generates 5,702 MW electricity from 17 hydel stations in the country. As many as seven power stations with a total capacity of 4,095 MW, including the five delayed projects, are under construction.