The utility received the National Gold Shield Award for 2007-08 from the President of India for completion of Omkareshwar in November 2007. The deadline for the scheme, as set by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, was February 2008.
NHDC received recognition for the 520MW scheme after receiving the same award in early 2007 for the 1GW Indira Sagar scheme.
Omkareshwar was approved for construction by the Committee in March 2003. Work formally began on site in August that year and main construction got underway in October.
The surface powerhouse has eight 65MW Francis turbines, and the units were synchronised over July-November 2007.
Omkareshwar also comprises a 949m long, 53m high concrete gravity dam with a central, 570m long Ogee-type spillway on the river Narmada. Flood regulation is enabled by installation of 23 radial gates, each 20m by 18m.
Constructed on an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) basis, the civil contractor was Jaiprakash Associates, part of the Jaypee Group, the generating units were supplied by voith-siemens Hydro Power Generation (now Voith Hydro).
NHDC is a joint venture of National Hydroelectric Power Corp (NHPC) and the Government of Madhya Pradesh. The JV was set up in August 2000 and became a public limited company in May 2003.
The JV has three further, smaller projects in planning to be built on the river Narmada – Bauras (55MW), Handia (51MW) and Hoshangbad (45MW).
