Tala Hydroelectric Power Station is a run-of-the-river

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

on the Wangchu River in Chukha District,

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

. The station consists of a tall

gravity dam A gravity dam is a dam constructed from concrete or stone masonry and designed to hold back water by using only the weight of the material and its resistance against the foundation. Gravity dams are designed so that each section of the dam is ...

which diverts water through a long headrace tunnel to the power station () which contains six 170 MW

Pelton turbine The Pelton wheel or Pelton Turbine is an impulse-type water turbine invented by American inventor Lester Allan Pelton in the 1870s. The Pelton wheel extracts energy from the impulse of moving water, as opposed to water's dead weight like the t ...

-generators. The difference in elevation between the dam and the power station affords the project a

hydraulic head Hydraulic head or piezometric head is a measurement related to liquid pressure (normalized by specific weight) and the liquid elevation above a vertical datum., 410 pages. See pp. 43–44., 650 pages. See p. 22, eq.3.2a. It is usually meas ...

of . Preliminary construction on the project began in 1997 and major works were underway by 1999. The power equipments viz. turbines, generators etc. were designed and manufactured by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited ( BHEL), at their various factories in India. The first generator was commissioned on 31 July 2006 and the final on 30 March 2007. The project cost was about US$900 million and was financed by

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

through grants. All of the electricity generated is exported to India through three 400kV transmission lines. The power station is the country's biggest hydropower project and the fourth after the Chuka project (336 MW) in 1988, followed by Kurichhu (60 MW) in 2001, and Basochho (40 MW) in 2005. Electricity revenue was expected to provide no less than 60% of the government's entire revenue in 2009. In 2017, 97.7% of Bhutanese households had access to electricity.Worldbank
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References

{{reflist Dams completed in 2006 Energy infrastructure completed in 2006 Energy infrastructure completed in 2007 Hydroelectric power stations in Bhutan Bhutan–India relations Dams in Bhutan Run-of-the-river power stations Economy of Bhutan 2007 establishments in Bhutan

See also

References