Top 10 Largest Hydropower Plants in India- 2022

As you know, Hydropower plants are which delivers electricity by generating power from Dams. The restricted water in the dam falls on the turbine to generate electricity.

In this context, This guide will give you the 10 Largest Hydropower plants in India, which will give you a broader view of various power plants in India with their power delivery capacity.

So, without further delays, let’s get started…

Here are the Top10 Hydropower Plants in India-

1. Tehri Dam
2. Koyna Dam
3. Srisailam Dam
4. Nathpa Jhakri Dam
5. Sardar Sarovar Dam
6. Bhakhra Nangal Dam
7. Chamera Dam
8. Sharavathi Dam
9. Indira Sagar Dam
10. Karcham Wangtoo Dam

Now, Let’s dwell inside these Dams, One by one-

Tehri Dam-

Tehri Dam is India’s largest hydropower plant in India with a capacity of 2400MW located in Tehri, Uttarakhand on the Bhagirathi river. This dam is known as India’s tallest Dam run by THDC India Limited under the ownership of the National thermal power corporation of India.

Tehri Dam is an embankment 3 stage dam with a height of 260.5 Meters, Length 592 Meters, and top width of 25.5 Meters. Tehri Dam covers 42km2 of the area. Due to this splendour Dam, This area is also known as ”National Village” or ”Rastra ka Gaw”.

Tehri Dam is Asia’s tallest and the World’s fourth Tallest Dam in the Embankment Dam category with 260.5 Meters of Height.

Tehri Dam is World’s 8th tallest Dam as per overall ranking. The official name of Tehri Dam is Swami Ramtirtha Sagar.

In 1949, the Up government initiated the plan to build a Dam in Tehri and a survey was done till 1961. Professor James Brun designed the Tehri Dam in 1970.

Tehri Hydro Electric Project is divided into two phases –

1. Tehri Dam & Hydropower Plant(1000MW)
2. Tehri Pumped storage plant(1000MW)

And, the second phase is divided into a single sub-phase, namely-

• Koteshwar Dam(400MW)

Now, let’s talk about the Merits and Demerits of Tehri Dam-

Advantages of Tehri Dam-

• Power supply to a wide range of states including Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi and Uttarakhand.
• Drinking water supply to states like Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.
• Irrigation water supply
• Reduces flood
• Fishing & Tourism
• Local Employment

Disadvantages of Tehri Dam-

• Displacements of locals
• A huge change in climate

Koyna Dam-

Rubble-concrete Koyna Dam is one of the largest Dam in India located in Maharastra on the koyna river.

Koyna Dam comes under the Koyna Hydroelectric Project which is a Four stage second largest Power project with total power generation capacity of 1960 MW.

Koyna dam was built by the Tata Group. The four-stage power capacity of this Dam is given below-

• Stage-I(280MW)
• Stage-II(320MW)
• Stage-III(320MW)
• Stage-IV(1000MW)

Srisailam Dam- 

Srisailam Dam is a Gravity Dam and was opened to operate in 1981 with a huge power generation capacity of 1670MW on the Krishna river and further operated by APGENCO.

It has 512 meters long, 145 meters in height and 12 radial crest gates and with 616 square meters long reservoir. This project was firstly initiated by Chief minister Neelam Sanjiva Reddy in 1960.

This Dam is known to be the second-largest hydroelectric power plant situated at the border of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on the Krishna river.

Nathpa Jhakri Dam-

Nathpa jhakri Dam is located in Rampur, Shimla, Himanchal Pradesh with 1500MW of power generation capacity situated on the satluj river. It is a concrete based Gravity Dam with an underground power station, run by SJVN Ltd.

This dam is started construction in 1993 and completed in 2004 and it has six units of 250MW located in the foothills of the Himalayas.

Nathpa jhakri dam used to supply the electricity in Himachal Pradesh and northern states of India.

Sardar Sarovar Dam-

Sardar sarovar dam is a gravity dam situated on the narmada river near Navagam, Gujrat. This dam comes under one of the third largest dams in India with a total height of 163Meter and a length is 1200m.

This is a multipurpose dam capable to supply drinking water, Irrigation water and electricity to four Indian states like Gujrat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharastra and Rajasthan.

Benefits of Sardar sarovar dam-

• Multipurpose dam
• Increase in Infractures
• Increase in jobs
• Flood protection

Demerits of Sardar sarovar dam-

• Displacement of people
• Loss of forest and agricultural land
• Change in climate

Bhakhra Nangal Dam-

October 22, 1963, was the day when the Multi-purpose Bakhra Nangal dam was inaugurated by then prime minister Jawahar Lal Nehru.

Actual Bhakra and Nangal dam are two separated concrete gravity dam that comes under the Bhakra Nangal project, where Bhakra dam is located in Bhakra village in Himachal Pradesh on the Sutlej river and Nangal dam is located in Nangal village in Panjab which is 13kilometer away from bhakra dam. These both dams are called Bhakhra Nangal Dam together.

Bhakhra dam is the third-largest reservoir in India with a spread area of 168.35km2 along with 226Meter height, making it one of the highest gravity dams in the world.

Benefits of Bhakra Nangal Dam-

• Increase in food grain yield
• Increase in cotton yield
• Supply of irrigation water
• tourism & Fishing
• Increase in Employment

Chamera Dam-

Chamera hydroelectric gravity dam is located in the Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh with a maximum power generation capacity of 1071MW situated on the Ravi river.

This Chamera 1 dam comes under NHPC Limited which operates and runs this gravity dam.

Chamera Dam is a 6.4kilometer long tunnel with 226Meter of height, 295Meter of length with the maximum and minimum levels of water are 763 and 747 respectively.

UP, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan and Chandigarh are the beneficiary states of this Chamera dam.

Benefits of Chamera Dam-

• Power generation
• Irrigation water
• Increase in local infrastructure
• Tourism
• Local Employment

Sharavathi Dam-

Sharavathi Dam is also known as Linganamakki Dam build on the Sharavati river under the project name of Sharavathi Hydro Power plant and is located in the Sagara district of Karnataka near the jog falls which is 09 kilometres away from sharavati dam.

Sharavati hydropower plant is capable of generating electricity of 1035MW with the operating company ‘Karnataka power corporation limited(KPCL)’ to its beneficiary states such as south Indian states including Karnataka.

This dam has a total 10 number of turbines and generators made in japan, Canada, France and India.

Indira Sagar Dam-

Indira Sagar Project is a multipurpose project located 10 kilometres away from Punasa village in the Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh.

Indira Sagar dam is build on Narmada River. This dam has a curved axis instead of a straight dam. This project was introduced by then prime minister late Shrimati Indira Gandhi on October 23, 1984.

This dam has a length of 653 Meters with a maximum height of 92Meter. This project has an electricity generation capacity of 1000MW.

Karcham Wangtoo Dam-

The Karcham Wangtob Hydroelectric plant Located in the Kinnaur District of Himanchal Pradesh capable of Generating 1000MW of electricity situated on the satluj river.

The dam is located between Karcham and Wangtoo village, that’s why it gains its name Karchan wangtoo Dam, Locally known as Karcham Dam.

It has four units capable of making electricity 250MW by each of the units.

Wrapping Up-

These were the top 10 List of hydropower plant in India which supplies electricity to Indian states and help to supply water for irrigation and drinking water as well.

I hope, you enjoyed being here and gained some knowledge in return. If so, consider sharing with your friends and colleagues or students, this will help them too.

Don’t forget to bookmark Engineers Rail for further convenient readings, Thank you for being with me. I hope to see you in the next session.

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Abhishek Tiwary

Abhishek Tiwary is a blogger by passion and a Quality Engineer by profession. He completed his B.Tech degree in the year 2017. Now working in a reputed firm. He loves to share his knowledge with others.