Polavaram Hydroelectric Project (PHEP) is being constructed on the River Godavari near Polavaram village, in the East Godavari and West Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh. This is a prestigious 960 MW project.
The specialty of this massive hydel power plant is that it can generate electricity all year round, regardless of heavy rains/floods. The project, which is set to reinvigorate the landscape of Andhra Pradesh, is not only a massive hydroelectric power station being built in the Telugu states, it also aims to eradicate water shortage.
While a majority of India’s massive hydroelectric power plants have been built entirely for harnessing electricity, the Polavaram project also caters to the needs of irrigation and drinking water. The PHEP development involves the installation of 12 units of Kaplan hydro turbines, each with 80 MW capacity. The MEIL is constructing this state-owned green energy project in collaboration with the Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation (APGENCO).
The Godavari gets flooded every year. In addition to controlling these floods, utilising them for power generation is the focus of this project. Hydroelectricity is generated by releasing water from a height of 27 metres to the bottom. About 881 cumecs of water is released from each unit and 2,308.41 million units of electricity is generated from each of them. The power plant specialises in vertical generators and vertical Kaplan turbines. Approach channels, intake pools of and gates are being set up accordingly.
Also, in most irrigation projects, powerhouses are situated right beside the spillway. But in Polavaram, the powerhouse is being set up in the gap area on the left bank, while the spillway is located towards the right.
A total of 24 gates are under construction. The power plant is being constructed in an area of 365-625 metres to an extent of 107 hectares of land, with 125 intake gates, three-stop log gates, and 12 pressure tunnels. This kind of engineering ingenuity can only be seen in the Polavaram project.
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