The river diversion work at SJVN’s upcoming Luhri hydroelectric project (HEP) was recently inaugurated at the hands of CMD, Nand Lal Sharma.
A release by SJVN said that Sharma triggered the last blast and inaugurated river diversion of the 210-mw Luhri Stage-1 hydropower project in Himachal Pradesh. Besides, the fabrication works of the penstock and erection works of the diversion tunnel gates were also inaugurated.
According to Nand Lal Sharma, the completion of 617m long diversion tunnel is an important achievement for the project. “Diversion of river water through it will pave the way for construction of Coffer Dam and will take us nearer to our commissioning target,” said Sharma.
It may be recalled that the foundation stone of the 210-mw Luhri Stage-1 hydropower was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 27, 2021.
Being constructed over River Satluj near Niarth village spread over Shimla and Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh, this run-of-the-river scheme received Central government’s investment approval in November 2020.
Other works
The SJVN CMD also took a detailed review of the ongoing stripping works for the dam, power house and tail race arrangement at Right Bank of the river Sutlej and Diversion of National Highway. The National Highway Diversion works are at final stage and will be completed very shortly. With this, the construction works for Dam at Left Bank of the river will also commence.
Project Cost
The estimated cost of Luhri Stage-1 Hydro Electric Project is Rs.1,810 crore and on completion, it would generate 758 million kwh of electricity annually.
Also read: Patel Engineering-HES Infra Consortium Wins Major Order For Luhri HEP
Steel truss bridge
The overall project also envisages the construction of an 84m long steel truss bridge. On completion, the bridge will facilitate the project activities and will be immensely beneficial for people of Kullu and Shimla districts.
Three schemes
The overall Luhri Hydro Electric Project is located on river Satluj spread over Shimla, Kullu and Mandi districts of Himachal Pradesh. Initially LHEP was contemplated as single stage project. However, owing to social and environment-related concerns, the Luhri project was broken down into three schemes – Luhri HEP-Stage 1 (210 mw), Luhri HEP-Stage 2 (172 mw) and Sunni Dam HEP (382 mw). SJVN will be the sole implanting agency for each of these three projects. When conceived as a single project, the government of Himachal Pradesh was envisaged to be an equity partner.
Featured photograph is a file picture of drilling in the river at the dam site of the Luhri hydropower project. (Photo: SJVN)
