Sulari Anthony
The upper hydropower project is a run of river hydropower project with an installed capacity of 150MW; consisting of two 75MW units and it will produce 528 per year. It has the following components; a dam, a headrace tunnel, an upstream surge tank, underground powerhouse, an outdoor switchyard and 200kV double circuit transmission line.
The upper Hydropower project (UKHP) was conceived with the preparation of a master plan for hydroelectric development in the Basin 1968. The environment impact Assessment (EIA) Report was issued in September, 1994. the Environment impact Assessment identified key issues associated with the UKHP as, impacts on water fall aesthetics due to stream flow reductions, social impacts due to resettlement of affected people, possible effects on ground water due to tunneling, impacts on bio-diversity.
Further detailed studies on alternatives were completed in 1996 and secretary of the Ministry of Forestry and Environment granted approval for the project under the National Environment Act in July 1998 subject to strict adoption of proposed mitigation measures to minimize possible environmental impacts, which included the development of a watershed management plan, maintenance of daytime flows over the waterfalls, monitoring of ground water levels, an resettlement program. This decision was challenged in the court of appeal, in October 1998. The secretary of the Ministry of Forestry and Environment gave final order in March, 2000, subsequent to the settlement of appeal.
The project is funded by Japan. The government of Sri Lanka secured financial support in March 2002 from the Government of Japan to implement the project, signing of loan Agreement SL – P 74 in March 28, 2002.
After, having being rejected three times, the Upper Hydropower project is now under construction, in order to generate 150 MW of electricity for the country in which, the demand for electricity has been growing at an annual rate of 7-8%.
No comments:
Post a Comment