Feasibility of small-scale multipurpose hydropower projects in Karbi-Anglong District of Assam, India: a geotechnical appraisal

ABSTRACT

The potential of small hydropower projects (SHP) in Karbi-Anglong District of Assam has been investigated, and site-specific detailed studies have been done at three potentially feasible sites. Geo-mechanical characterization of rocks at the proposed sites shows higher values for strength parameters and falls in Good rock category in Rock Mass Rating class. Run of the River (RoR) scheme with a small reservoir is recommended in the area. A storage type layout plan for the site located on Kalyani river would have a 2.38 MW power-generation capacity, whereas the RoR type would be able to generate 953.1 kW. The RoR scheme for the Daigurung site will be able to generate 175.8 kW and that for Nambar 53.0 kW. Likewise, the storage type scheme will produce 505.4 kW and 137.7 kW for Daigurung and Nambar sites, respectively. These irrigation-based multipurpose projects will boost agriculture activities in the downstream areas and also meet the captive power requirement.

KEYWORDS:

• SHP
• Karbi-Anglong
• run of the river
• irrigation

Acknowledgement

The authors acknowledge the Geological Survey of India, Central Region, Nagpur, for providing the necessary permission to carry out this research work. The authors express their sincere thanks to Dr. Eng Choon Leong, Editor, International Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, for providing the opportunity to submit the manuscript and also to two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions during the review process.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author Contribution

Manash Protim Baruah: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Writing original draft, Investigation, Visualization.

Jayanta Jivan Laskar: Validation, Visualization, Writing – review & editing.

Devojit Bezbaruah: Interpretation, Visualization, Investigation, Writing – review & editing.

Tapos Kumar Goswami: Resources, Supervision, Writing – review & editing.

Manash Jyoti Das: Software, Fieldwork, Data collection and Interpretation.