Dam Safety

Landslide in northeast India damages hydroelectric project

Officials said the Teesta V hydro station’s powerhouse experienced heavy damage during the landslide, in addition to the GIS building on site.

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Landslide in northeast India damages hydroelectric project
Teesta V Power Station (Credit: International Hydropower Association)

A landslide in East Sikkim, India, has caused damage to the 510 MW Teesta V hydroelectric project, local officials said.

Teesta V is owned and operated by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) and is located on the Teesta River. The landslide struck on Tuesday morning around 7:30 am, in Dipu Dara near Singtam in Gangtok district, onmanorama.com reports. Officials said the station’s powerhouse experienced heavy damage, in addition to the GIS building on site.

Teesta V was also damaged in 2023 during a glacial lake outburst flood, The Hindu reports. The 1,200 MW Teesta-III dam was also damaged during the flood. Since then, the plant has been under construction.

Gangtok District Collector Tushar G. Nikhare told The Hindu that the Department of Mines and Geology will study the landslide. Additionally, NHPC said a technical team from Delhi is on its way to the site to assess the damage and recommend paths for restoration, The Hindu reports.

The Teesta V Power Station has an 88.6 m high, 176.5 m long, concrete gravity dam impounding a regulating reservoir for daily power peaking, according to the International Hydropower Association. The powerhouse contains three 170 MW Francis turbines rated at a net head of 197 m and generates an average of 2,573 GWh per year. The plant operates as a peaking plant during the winter and operates at continuous full power during the summer.

In 2019, Teesta V was rated as an example of international good practice in hydropower sustainability, according to an independent report. The station was reviewed by a team of accredited assessors using the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol (HSAP). The assessment, the first of its kind in India, was conducted between January and June 2019 and involved two visits to the project area, with stakeholder interviews.

According to the report, Teesta V met or exceeded international good practice across all 20 performance criteria. It met proven best practice on its management of asset reliability and efficiency, financial viability, project benefits, cultural heritage, public health, and erosion and sedimentation. Teesta V was also the first hydropower project globally to publish results against new performance criteria covering its resilience to climate change and mitigation of carbon emissions, after the HSAP was expanded in scope in 2018.

Teesta V is part of a cascade of hydropower projects along the Teesta River. It was built to supply power to Sikkim’s Energy & Power Department and other state-owned distribution companies in India’s eastern region and commissioned in 2008.