RCE approval likely to push Nimoo Bazgo HEP ATS to 12th plan

The website carries here, a status update on the associated transmission system (ATS) of NHPC's 45 MW Nimoo Bazgo

hydro-electric project (HEP), works for which are likely to slip into the 12th plan period. Work on the ATS has commenced, with the

transmission lines and substation works having been awarded in two separate contracts (supply and erection & commissioning),

which encompass works for 66 kV lines, 66 kV /11kV substations, 11kV lines, LT lines and BPL connections.

As per the present status, an approval for the revised cost estimates (RCE) from Rural Electrification Corporation (REC)/Ministry of

Power (MoP), which had been submitted to REC in October last year, is currently awaited. Any further delay in the approval of the

RCE is likely to now push the completion of the lines and substations to the next fiscal period, since the working period is maximum

from April-October.
  --It is pertinent to note that a revised RCE had been prepared where the estimates are over 20%, to take into account the substantial

increase in the Bill of Quantities particularly for the erection contract. Most of the works will be taken up subsequent to the approval

of the RCE and amendment to the contract.

The 45 MW project is a run-of-river scheme, planned to harness the hydropower potential of the Indus river, in the Leh district of the

state. The project envisages the construction of a 57 m high concrete gravity dam, three 6.3 m long penstocks, with a diameter of 3.3

m, each, and a surface power house with four Francis turbine units of 15 MW capacity, each. The project would afford an annual

energy generation of 239 million units (MU), assuming 90% performance.