510 MW NHPC Teesta Stage V project to be fully commissioned by March

Gangtok, Oct 28 (UNI) The 510 MW NHPC Teesta Stage V hydro electric power project at Balutar in East Sikkim is set to be fully commissioned by March next year.

NHPC sources told UNI here today that the work was in the final stages and the first unit, which would generate 170 MW, would be commissioned in January.

The other two units, with a capacity of 170 MW each, would be commissioned in February and March respectively, the sources added.

''Once the first unit is commissioned, work for the other two units will be just a formality,'' they claimed.

The sources added that the dam construction at Dikchu dam site was fully completed. The dam is 95 m high, spanning a length of 70 m and is a concrete gravity dam.

Work at the 17.6 km long head race tunnel was 95 per cent complete while the five-storey power house built inside a hill at Balutar was almost complete. The underground power house is the first in the Northeastern region and the third in the country.

Electrical and mechanical work for the project was 85 per cent complete, the sources informed.

Laying of power grid lines by the Power Grid Corporation of India ltd (PGCIL) for transmission of hydel power generated by Teesta V project was in the final stage. Electricity generated by the project will be distributed to the nation by the Eastern Grid of the PGCIL.

Once the Teesta V project was commissioned, the Sikkim government would be entitled to 12 per cent free power annually with an estimated annual revenue generation of Rs 80-85 crore.

The project was being built with an approximate cost of Rs 2,300 crore and the construction work had started in February, 2001.

UNI