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CONTENTS
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Tala Hydroelectric Project Authority (THPA)
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Project
Details
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Tala Update
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Current News on the THPA
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Dam photo
1. TALA HYDROELECTRIC
PROJECT AUTHORITY (THPA)
In the early eighties, the two
new potential hydroelectricity
projects -- 1020 MW
Tala Hydroelectric Project Authority (THPA)
and 500
MW Chukha II -- were identified as two downstream hydroelectricity
projects of Chukha.
The THPA,
a run-of-river scheme immediately downstream of the Chukha project
on Wangchu river is envisaged to generate
3,962
Million units of
power in an average year.
The Ministry of Trade,
Bhutan says is planned to generate
4865
Million Units per year. This project is the largest high-head (860m)
power plant being constructed in the region.
A
run-of-the-river project, the 1020 MW THPA was taken up for implantation
in 1996. It is located in Tala, 60 km up from Phuntsholing, the
gateway to Bhutan. The THPA has an installed capacity of 1,020 MW.
It is
a run-of-the-river project on the Wangchu river, downstream of
Chukha Hydroelectric project.
It
comprises a 92-meters
high
dam, a 22.25 kilometre long head race
tunnel, an underground power house complex at Tala village to house
6 units of 170 MW generators and three 440 KV single-circuit
transmission lines to reach the Ind0- Bhutan border.
The
23-kilometre headrace tunnel, second longest in the Himalayas, was
completed on November 8, 2004 ( Kuensel Nov 10, 2004).
The project’s
managing director, Mr. R. N. Khazanchi.
said that with excavation works
completed, only concreting was left to be done, the rest of
the 23 kilometre long headrace tunnel will be completed by October
2005. ( Kuensel Jan 29, 2005).
The excavation of the tunnel took
about 20 months, which in normal condition would have taken only
about two months. The excavation
was delayed due to adverse geological conditions.
The Tala tunnel will be ready for
delivering water to the six 170 MW generators by October 2005.
The
first 4.4 kilometre stretch of Geduchu
headrace tunnel was inaugurated on January 27, 2005
The
project originally planned to be commissioned in
June 2005,
will
now be commissioned in June 2006. The project
is expected
to transform the country’s economic health. Estimates suggest that
Bhutan’s annual per capita income would increase from about $700 to
about $1200.
Project Costs: The original cost for the THPA
was estimated at Bhutanese (Ngultrum) Nu or Indian Rupees
14,080 million ( Us $ 0.3
billion) in 1993. The cost of project was then revised at Nu/Rs
30,800 million
in 2001,
Nu.
37,250 million ( 37.25 billion or app. US $ 750 million )
in March 2003 and
Nu. 43,000 million on January 22, 2004. The project may
cost to
Nu. 43,450 million,
an increase by Nu. 7650 million from the initial estimation,
informed the Managing Director of the project
on February 14, 2005
The THPA is the biggest Indo-Bhutan joint project. This
project is entirely funded by the Government of India (GOI) by way
of grants and loan. India will provide a 60 percent grants and 40
percent loan at 9 percent interest. It will produce 3,962 million
units (MUs) of power in a "90 percent dependable year".
The construction of initial work on the dam, power tunnel, power
house complex and transmission system was started in 1998. It is
targeted for commissioning in the year 2004-2005. Bharat Heavy Electrical
Limited of India is the supplier of the complete generating plant
at a cost of Nu. 4,210 million.
Tala
Hydro-electric Project Authority (THPA)
manages the
project.
M/s
Hindustan Construction Company, M/s Larsen and Toubro and M/S
Jaiprakash Industries
are other Indian contractors.
2. Project details
Total Energy Output: 3962
MUs on the basis of 90 percent dependable flow.
Estimated Cost : Nu. 37250
Million
Generation Tariff : Nu.
1.60 per unit (estimated)
Source: Wangchu River
Gross Head: 860 m
Dam Height:
92
meter high.
Head
race tunnel:
22.25 kilometre long
Capacity : 6 x 170 MW
Commissioning Schedule :
Project originally planned to be commissioned in
June 2005,
will
now be commissioned in June 2006
Beneficiaries: India’s Eastern
Region Constituents
Revenue projection:
Expected revenue
generation of Nu/IRS 40 million a day after completion
Per
capita Income: Annual per capita income is expected to
increase from about $700 to about $1200 after the completion of this
project
3. Tala
Update
The Power Grid
Corporation of India (PCI) and Tatas have formed a joint venture for
transmission of 3,000 mw of power from Bhutan to the States in north
India, including Jammu and Kashmir via Delhi. The Tatas will
have 51 percent and the Power Grid Corporation of India (PCI)
49 percent holding in the joint venture. The project will be
accomplished in two phases. In the first phase, 1,000 mw of hydel
power will be transmitted from Bhutan. Source:
Hoovernews January 01, 2003.
On January 16, 2003 The Asian
Development Bank (ADB) said that it has approved a rupee-denominated
loan of 62 million dollars for India's first public-private
partnership in power transmission. The joint venture company, Tala-Delhi
Transmission Ltd. will construct power transmission lines from
Siliguri in West Bengal to Mandaula near New Delhi, according to the
ADB statement. The power lines will carry electricity from the
Tala Hydro Electric Power Project as well as surplus power
from India's eastern region to the northern areas.
The Tala-Delhi Transmission Ltd. will
construct more than 1,150 kilometers (713 miles)
comprising
1,133
kilometers
of 400 kilovolts
(kV) lines and 20 km of 220 kV lines
of power lines under the
"build-own-operate-transfer" ( BOOT) set-up. The
total cost of the project is US$249 million equivalent. Debt will
make up 70 percent of the financing, with 25 percent from ADB and 45
percent from commercial lenders. The equity financing, covering the
other 30 percent of the cost, is divided between Tata Power Company
Limited, India's largest private power utility company (49 percent);
Tata Sons Limited, the principal investment holding company of the
Tata Group (2 percent); and Power Grid Corporation of India Limited
(49 percent).
The Tala-Delhi Transmission Ltd., will
handle the operation of the system for 30 years and then turn it
over to the Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd., a
government-owned transmission utility. Sources:
Asian
Development Bank January 16, 2003.and
Hoovernews January 17, 2003.
4. NEWS ON THPA
Tala will be commissioned in March
2006
Kuensel
July 03, 2004
The
1020 MW Tala Hydroelectric Project will be commissioned in March,
2006, six months behind its initial date, according to a report
released during the 19th Tala Hydroelectric Project Authority
meeting in Thimphu on June 26. Allowing one month for filling and
another month for testing and trial runs, the first unit will be
commissioned by December, 2005, and all the six units by March,
2006, the report states. According to the report the new
commissioning schedule took into consideration the work on the
headrace tunnel in the critical reach between Kalikhola and
Mirchingchu, excavating and concreting of surge shaft and pressure
shafts in the middle reach scheduled for completion in October 2005.
Meanwhile, most of the electrical works are expected to be completed
by early next year and the construction of two 400kV transmission
lines to Indo-Bhutan border was progressing including erection of
towers and stringing of transmission lines. Infrastructure like
roads and bridges to access the project, the civil, electrical,
transmission, and the hydro-mechanical works, were either completed,
or was nearing completion. The civil works, diversion tunnel,
dam excavation, intake excavation, headrace tunnel excavation,
desilting chambers were completed while dam concreting and intake
concreting among others were yet to be completed. In the past one
year, the project has been able to overcome some of the critical
hurdles created by weak geo-physical condition and monsoon damages
said the managing director of Tala Hydroelectric project Authority,
Mr. R N Khazanchi. “Despite the initial hindrances, the works are
now picking the pace,” he said.
At the
Authority meeting, the chairman of the committee, Lyonpo Yeshey
Zimba, said there was much concern about the possible delays in
project implementation during the last meeting held in Delhi, India,
last year.
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Tala will be delayed
Kuensel
Apr 10, 2004
Adverse geological conditions in
drilling the headrace tunnel and ‘numerous blockages’ in vertical
and inclined pressure shafts might delay the completion of the 1,020
MW Tala hydro electric project by a few months, according to THPA
officials. “We expect the compressed commission date of September
2005 to slip further by a few months,” THPA’s managing director, Mr
R N Khazanchi, told Kuensel on April 6. Mr Khazanchi said that,
although 80 percent of the project was completed, about 159 metres
of tunneling was still to be completed. The 42-kilometre tunnel
from Mirchingchu to Kalikhola faced difficult conditions between the
23-kilometre area from Wangkha to Kalikhola in a 600- metre stretch.
The vertical and inclined pressure shafts that would filter water
flowing through the tunnel also had ‘numerous blockages’ with the
latest blockage cleared on March 29. The coming monsoon rains were
also expected to slow the work. “We lose at least a day or two in a
month,” said Mr Khazanchi, although all the work in progress was
underground except at the dam site. Meanwhile work on the
transmission phase of the project, which involves setting up
transmission lines for export of power to India from Tala, is in
full swing. Power from Tala will reach the Indian border through two
main 400 Kv double circuit lines. The 46.67-kilometre Tala-Pugli
line is expected to be completed by the end of this year. “Out of a
total of 105 towers 87 have already been erected and the foundation
laid for 12 more towers,” said Mr B K Sood, the superintending
engineer of transmission circle of the project. “Conductors have
been strung for 27 kilometres out of 49 kilometers for the
Tala-Pugli line,” he added. The initial complication for the
passage of a corridor along the 24.54- kilometer Tala- Khokla line
through the Buxa tiger reserve forest in West Bengal was resolved
with the existing transmission line of the Chukha power project to
be used with slight modifications in height and multi lines. “This
line will be a complete standby line to the Tala-Pugli line,”
Khazanchi said. The transmission line across the Indian border to
Siliguri was being constructed by the power grid of India, a
government of India undertaking, and the work for the
1,500-kilometre transmission line further to Delhi was started, in
collaboration with Tata Power, Khazanchi said.
The
fabrication and manufacturing of the generating plants was also on
track, with most of the equipment already transported to the project
site, he added. Once commissioned, THPA is expected to generate a
total revenue of Nu 40 million a day and contribute a substantial
part to the Ninth Plan budget. As of today, Nu 27,000 million has
already been spent, out of the expected completion cost of Nu 40,000
million
5. Dam photo
Tala -Wankha Dam
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