Work on 4 projects from 2012

December 23 – Bhutan and India have agreed that the construction of four hydropower projects, with a total generation capacity of 3576 MW, will begin in 2012. That means that all the 10 agreed projects with a total installed capacity of 11636 MW would be in progress by then, according to Bhutan embassy officials in New Delhi.

In a special signing ceremony yesterday in New Delhi, Bhutan’s ambassador to India, Major General V Namgyel, and the four Indian public sector undertakings (PSUs) signed memoranda of undertakings to prepare detailed project reports (DPRs) on the 620 MW Amochhu reservoir, the 1800 MW Kuri Gongri, 670 MW Chamkharchhu-I and 486 MW Kholongchhu in the presence of His Majesty the King and the Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.

DPRs for the Kuri-Gongri (confluence of Kurichu and Dangmechu in Kengkhar, Mongar) and Chamkharchu-1 in Digala will be prepared by the national hydropower corporation of India (NHPC) and submitted to the two governments by December 2011. The DPR for Kholongchhu project in Doksum, Trashiyangtse, will be prepared by SJBNL, while TPC will prepare the Amochu reservoir project in Dorokha. Both DPRs have to be submitted in June 2011 and September 2011 so that construction starts by 2012.

Of the 10 projects finalised to be implemented in the 10th plan, DPRs for both the Punatsangchhu-II (1000 MW) and Mangdechhu (720 MW) have been completed and submitted to the two governments. In the second empowered joint group (EJG) meeting held in August 2009, it was agreed that the two governments would finalise and sign the implementation agreements to start the construction of the two projects by 2010. The projects will be taken up under the inter-governmental model.

The DPR for the 1000 MW Punatsangchhu-II has been completed and already tendered out, while the DPR study for the 4060 MW Sankosh reservoir is ongoing.

During the second EJG meeting, it was decided that, for the 180 MW Bunakha and the 900 MW Wangchhu reservoir projects, their viability would have to be ascertained before undertaking the DPR upgradation.

The DPR study work on seven projects is being financed by GoI under the project-tied assistance (PTA) in the 10th plan, according to foreign ministry officials.

The Kuri-Gongri and Kholongchhu hydropower projects will generate 2286 MW power and is expected to drive the economy of eastern Bhutan.

According to the joint secretary of external publicity division, ministry of external affairs, Vishnu Prakash, one of the key areas of cooperation has been water resources, particularly in India’s assistance to Bhutan in harnessing hydroelectric potential and generation of hydroelectric power.

He said that the three major hydroelectric projects have already commissioned, all with GoI assistance. “This include the 336 MG Chukha, 60 MW Kurichu and 1020 MW Tala projects, and the fourth one, Punatsangchhu-I with 1200 MW, is currently under construction,” he said.

“Surplus power generated from Bhutan is made available to India and, significantly, during the visit of our PM to Bhutan in May 2008, we committed to help develop 10,000 MW of hydropower in Bhutan by 2020,” Vishnu Prakash said.

The two governments also signed an agreement on consultancy services for preparation of national transmission grid master plan for Bhutan.

According to the MoU, signed by Major General V Namgyel and the chairman of the central electricity authority (CEA), Gurdial Singh, the construction of 10 mega hydroelectric project under the 10,000 MW programme will require construction of numerous transmission infrastructure (both lines and substations) for export of surplus power and for meeting the energy needs of the country.

Keeping in view the environmental impacts, difficulty in getting right of way and transmission evacuation requirement for future hydropower projects outside the 10000 MW projects, and for overall cost optimisation, there is a need to come out with a master plan study, which would provide an integrated road map of the transmission system that would need to be built, along with the hydropower projects identified under the 10000 MW development plan.

The national grid master plan (NTGMP) is to be purportedly framed in the 10th FYP and the government of India has agreed to provide the financing. The NTGMP study will be carried out by CEA. The scope of the work and terms of reference for this study have been discussed and finalised between the department of energy and CEA, according to the officials of the two countries.

source: kuensel