The Vishnugad Pipalkoti Hydro Electric Project (4 x 111 MW) is located on river Alaknanda, a major tributary of river Ganga, in district Chamoli in the state of Uttarakhand. The nearest railhead is Rishikesh (225 Km) and the nearest airport is Jolly Grant, Dehradun (240 Km). The project is approachable by an all weather road (National Highway 58). The project envisages a run of the river scheme with construction of a diversion dam of 65 m height across river Alaknanda for power generation harnessing a gross head of 237 m. The reservoir will have a gross storage capacity of 3.63 Million Cum, out of which 2.47 Million Cum shall be live storage. A diversion tunnel of 10.50 m dia. shall divert the discharge up to 725 Cumec during the construction period. The water conductor system comprises of 03 intake tunnels, 03 underground de-silting chambers, a head race tunnel, a surge shaft, 02 pressure shafts bifurcating into 4 penstocks. The power house comprises of two separate underground caverns namely machine hall and transformer hall for installation of turbines and transformers.
Revised Cost Estimate
Investment approval to the project amounting to Rs. 2491.58 Cr (Mar’08 PL) was accorded by CCEA in Aug’08. RCE of ₹ 3860.35 Cr. at Feb'2019 PL has been approved on 31.07.2021.
Expected Commissioning of Project
Project is anticipated to be commissioned by Jun’2026.