Alstom-HCC JV wins US$ 156 million contract

A joint venture between Indian contractor Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) and French power infrastructure specialist Alstom has won an INR 701 crore (US$ 156 million) contract for a pumped storage hydropower plant.

Indian state-owned power company THDC India awarded the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the 1000 MW pumped storage project in Tehri, in the northern Indian province of Uttarakhand.

Pumped storage plants generate energy by transferring water from two reservoirs built at different heights - energy is generated by releasing water from the high reservoir to the low reservoir to drive turbines. The water is pumped back to the higher reservoir at off-peak times.

The Tehri project involves construction of four reversible pump turbine units of 250 MW each. The Tehri Dam reservoir will function as the upper reservoir and Koteshwar reservoir as the lower reservoir.

The project is scheduled for completion by 2015.