Rs 1,926 cr Himachal hydel power deal signed

Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (SJVNL) a central public sector company, will build a major hydropower project in Himachal Pradesh at Rs 1,926 crore.

"The agreement was signed here by Y N Apparao, SJVNL chief, and J P Negi, power secretary, Himachal Pradesh, for the execution of the 434 Mw Rampur project to be built on the Sutlej river some 150 km from here in Shimla district," said Vijay Verma, spokesman, SJVNL.

To be implemented as a "run of river scheme", the project will use de-silted tail race water of the upstream 1,500 Mw Nathpa Jhakri Hydroelectric Project (NJPC), the country's largest hydropower project commissioned in April this year by SJVNL.

With a peaking capacity of 434 Mw, the project, on completion, will generate 1,946 million units.

The state government will have an equity participation of 30 per cent.

The state will also get 12 per cent of the energy generated free of cost. For the execution of the project, some 40 per cent manpower will be taken from the Himachal Pradesh state electricity board.

The hill state has a quarter of the country's power potential at around 2,100 Mw, but only about 6,000 Mw has been tapped so far due to a shortage of funds.