MEIL completes 3\,767 MW pumping capacity for Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project

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MEIL completes 3,767 MW pumping capacity for Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project

V Rishi Kumar Hyderabad | Updated on May 29, 2020 Published on May 29, 2020

To take up another 600 MW for expansion

With the commissioning of six pump of 27 megawatts capacity each at Markook pump house, Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited ((MEIL) has thus far commissioned 3767 mega watts pumping capacity for the mega Kaleshwaram lift irrigation scheme.

The diversified infrastructure company has completed all the critical works of Kaleshwaram multi-purpose lift irrigation project of the Telangana government. The project intends to make Telangana a ‘food bowl’ harnessing the potential of the Godavari water.

While completing the majority of pumping stations for this project within four years, MEIL has set up 22 pumping stations with 96 machines, with a total capacity of 4,680 MW. Of the total, the company built 15 pumping stations with 89 machines having a capacity of 3,840 MW. All the pump houses have been operationalised and are pumping water. MEIL had critical support from electro-mechanical engineering companies — BHEL, Aandriz, Zylum ABB, Crompton Greeves, VEGG, among others.

The project was closely monitored and pushed by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao.

New capacity

Telangana has decided to increase the pumping capacity of the Kaleshwaram project by one more TMC per day, requiring five new machines, each with a pumping capacity of 40 MW at Lakshmi, Saraswathi and Parvathi Pump Houses with a total capacity of 600 MW.

MEIL completed the construction of 15 pumping stations with a total capacity of 3,840 MW that could lift two TMCs of water per day. While nine pumping stations with a total capacity of 3,767 MW are already operationalised, four more with a capacity of 35.4 MW are ready for operation, and two pumping stations with a capacity of 41 MW are still in the completion stage.

The biggest in the project has seven machines with a total capacity of 139 MW could lift 2 TMC of water per day.

Largest pump house

B Srinivas Reddy, Director, MEIL, said: “Not only in terms of each machine, but even in terms of total capacity, it is the world’s largest pump house. One can imagine the size of this pump house, constructed 470 feet below the ground with 327 metre in length 25-metre width, and 65 metre height. While the Kaleshwaram project requires 4,680 MW of total capacity to lift 2 TMC of water per day, MEIL has established 89 machines with a total capacity of 3840 MWs, that indicates the role being played by the company for this prestigious project of Telangana.”

The Ranganayakasagar pump house is second biggest with a capacity of 536 MWs after the Gayathri pump house.

As a part of the project, the company has set up a massive power infrastructure for the Kaleshwaram, which is about one-fourth of the entire power supply system of Telangana state that has a capacity of 15,087 MWa, about the size of the power infrastructure of all the seven north-eastern States of India.

The Colorado lift irrigation project in the US and the Great Manmade River in Libya are considered as the biggest lift irrigation projects in the world. The Handri-Neeva Project in Andhra Pradesh surpassed them later. Given the size and capacity, Kaleshwaram Project has now become the world’s largest lift irrigation project.

Published on May 29, 2020

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