The Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) is planning to give small hydro power projects (micro-hydel) on its water sources to private companies. This comes while BBMB is already in a dispute with the Punjab government.
AAP leader from Nangal, Sanjeev Gautam, who is also the chairman of Guru Ravi Dass Ayurvedic Medical University, is against this move. He said that the Punjab government will not allow these projects to be given to private companies. According to him, these projects don’t need much money and the state government is ready to invest in them.
Sources said BBMB has planned a 1.79 MW micro-hydel project at Nangal dam. This project will use two plugged gates of the dam by drilling and using water flow from the Sutlej river. Around 500 cusecs of water is released from the dam to maintain the river’s environmental flow. The technical bid for the project is done, and tenders will be issued soon.
Another project of 1 MW is planned in the Bhakra Main Line (BML) canal between Ganguwal and Nakkian. It will use four floating turbines of 250 KV each. Tenders for this have already been floated, and the project will also be handled by a private company.
BBMB is also working on solar power projects. It is setting up 4.7 MW rooftop solar systems in its colonies in Nangal and Talwara, which will be completed by the end of June. There are also plans to install ground-mounted solar panels to produce 16 MW power, which will be handled by private companies. BBMB will then buy electricity from them at agreed rates.
BBMB engineers are also looking at other dams and canals for similar small hydro projects, most of which are expected to be outsourced.
However, the Punjab government’s ongoing demand to reconstitute BBMB and assert its 60% ownership may affect these outsourcing plans.
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