DAGMARA HYDRO-ELECTRIC PROJECT

Recently, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC) Limited and Bihar State Hydroelectric Power Corporation Limited (BSHPC) for Implementation of Dagmara Hydro-Electric Project, Supaul, Bihar.
NHPC is a Category-A Miniratna Company under the Ministry of Power, in the field of Hydropower.
It is the largest organisation for hydropower development in India, currently, NHPC has 24 operational power stations with a total installed capacity of 7071 Mega Watt (MW).

Important points:

The project is located near village Dagmara on the right bank and Simri on the left bank, about 22.5 km downstream of Bhimnagar barrage on Kosi river.
It is a Run-of-the-River scheme. Run-of-river hydro projects use the natural downward flow of rivers and micro turbine generators to capture the kinetic energy carried by water.
Typically water is taken from the river at a high point and diverted to a channel, pipeline, or pressurised pipeline (or penstock).
The project will have the total capacity of generating 130 MW energy, in which 17 units of 7.65 MW will be installed for power generation.
The estimated cost of construction of this project is at Rs. 2478.24 crore.
It will be a landmark project in the power sector scenario of Bihar as far as green power is concerned.
Apart from generating clean and green power, the execution will boost the socio-economic and infrastructure development in the area and shall also create employment opportunities.

Kosi River

The Kosi is a trans-boundary river which flows through Tibet, Nepal and India.
It has its source in Tibet that includes the world’s highest upland; it then drains a large part of Nepal before emerging onto the Gangetic plains.
Its three major tributaries, the Sun Kosi, Arun and Tamur meet at one point just upstream of a 10 km gorge cut through the Himalayan foothills.
The river crosses into northern Bihar, India where it branches into distributaries before joining the Ganges near Kursela in Katihar district.
Its unstable nature has been attributed to course changes and the heavy silt it carries during the monsoon season, and flooding in India has extreme effects.
The Kosi carries the maximum amount of silt and sand after the Brahmaputra in India.
It is also known as the “Sorrow of Bihar” as the annual floods affect about 21,000 km2 of fertile agricultural lands thereby disturbing the rural economy.

SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT

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