Alstom Projects wins over Rs 270-cr hydro power plant contracts. One in Sikkim too

by R. Y. Narayanan

Coimbatore, July 18: Alstom Projects India Ltd has won three major contracts worth over Rs 270 crore (over €40 million) to build hydroelectric projects in the country.

The first contract has been signed with Shiga Energy Pvt Ltd for the 97 MW Tashiding hydroelectric project in West Sikkim district on the Rathang Chu river. The second contract has been signed with NSL Tidong Power Generation Pvt Ltd for the Tidong 1 hydroelectric project in Kinnaur District in Himachal Pradesh, consisting of two 50 MW units. The third contract has been signed with Haridwar Infrastructure Pvt Ltd for the Dikchu hydroelectric project on the river Dikchu, a tributary of Teesta River in East Sikkim, for a 96 MW plant.

All equipment will be manufactured at Alstom’s Vadodara facility in Gujarat, one of the company’s largest hydro equipment manufacturing hubs worldwide.

Alstom estimates that India has an economically exploitable and viable hydro potential of about 84,000 MW. However, only 19.9 per cent of this potential has been harnessed so far. Additional hydropower capacity would diversify India’s energy mix, currently reliant on fossil fuels, thus contributing to energy security and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

These three contracts follow a major contract won by Alstom with Tehri Hydro Development Corporation (THDC) to install the 1,000 MW Tehri variable speed pumped storage hydro power plant in Uttarakhand. Alstom projects currently under execution include the 2,000 MW Subansiri Lower hydroelectric power plant in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, India’s largest hydro project.