In a development that could
potentially expedite hydropower
development in Jammu & Kashmir,
a tripartite joint venture has been
formed to implement three long pending
projects aggregating 2,100 mw.
The new joint venture Chenab Valley
Power Development Corporation Ltd,
formed on June 13, will be owned by
Jammu & Kashmir Power Development
Corporation Ltd, NHPC Ltd and PTC
India Ltd in the respective ratio of
49:49:2. The new entity will develop the
much-delayed 1,000-mw Pakal Dul
hydropower project in Chenab river
basin. I.A. Kakroo, a senior official of
JKSPDC, told Electrical Monitor over
phone that the new JV will also be
responsible for the Kiru (600 mw) and
Kawar (520 mw) projects in the same
river basin.
The new joint venture represents
J&K's decision to gradually transfer
delayed hydropower projects to Central
and private agencies, given the general
inability of state government-owned
JKSPDC in implementing them.
The Pakal Dul project, originally to
be implemented by JKSPDC, was
handed over to NHPC in October 2003.
NHPC could not begin work on the
project for several years to due local
resistance and delays in clearances.
Given that both parties had failed to
implement the project in their
individual capacity, the joint venture
route was mooted sometime in 2007-
08 and has now been formalized. The
Pakal Dul project was part of the seven
projects aggregating 2,798 mw handed
over to NHPC. The largest of the lot—
Bursar (1,020 mw)—is progressing
under NHPC's management, it is
learnt. The others—five medium
projects ranging from 18 mw to 280
mw—are also under NHPC.
J&K recorded a significant
achievement in June last year when it
handed over the 690-mw Rattle
hydropower project to the private
sector. Awarded to the GVK Group, this
is India's first hydropower project to be
awarded on tariff-based competitive
bidding apart from being the northern
state's first instance of eliciting private
sector participation in a large
hydropower scheme. So far, private
sector involvement has been limited to a
clutch of micro and mini hydropower
projects, aggregating no more than 100
mw. The JKSPDC official noted that
GVK Group has begun pre-project work
on the Rattle project with the detailed
project report now under preparation.
JKSPDC, formed in 1995 as a private
limited company to take over all
hydropower assets of the state's power
department, has had a mixed bag of
achievements. The biggest success has
been the implementation of the 450-
mw Baglihar hydropower project in the
Chenab basin. All the three units are
now commissioned, the last being in
March 2009, Kakroo explained.
Including 450 mw from Baglihar,
JKSPDC so far has a power portfolio of
758.70 mw. The remainder includes
Lower Jhelum (105 mw), Upper Sindh-II
(105 mw) and a series of minor schemes.
Based on the 660-mw capacity
monitored by Central Electricity
Authority (CEA does not monitor
hydropower plants of less than 25 mw),
JKSPDC had a power generation target
of 3,136 million kwh. As against this,
actual generation was 3,525 million
kwh, exceeding the target by 12 per cent.
The JKSPDC official explained that
though the corporation has 175 mw of
gas-based power capacity coming from
the Pampore gas/liquid-fuel plant, the
asset is not pressed into regular
operations due to high running costs.
Currently, most of the operational
hydropower capacity in the hilly state is
owned by NHPC. The Central PSU has
1,680 mw of capacity arising from the
Salal (690 mw), Uri-Stage I (480 mw),
Dul Hasti (390 mw) and Sewa-II (120
mw) projects.
Jammu & Kashmir can look forward
to the new joint venture and to private
participation allaying its traditional
power deficiency. In the first three
quarters of 2010-11, the state faced an
energy shortage of 25 per cent—the
worst faced by any state. The northern
state had an electricity demand of
10,101 million kwh during the said
period, against which only 7,556 million
kwh could be generated. J&K is
bestowed with 14,146 mw of
hydropower potential, 10 per cent of
India's total. However, less than 20 per
cent has been realized in the form of
installed capacity. Inadequate power
generation capacity is not J&K's only
concern; electricity still does not reach
many parts of the state. J&K's ATC
losses currently stand at an appalling 50
per cent, pointing to grave disarray in
the power distribution sector.