India’s 280MW Dhauliganga power project will begin generating in March with the commissioning of its first unit.

The first of the plant’s four 70MW units will come online next month, with the other three scheduled to start running by September.

The run-of-the-river project features a 56m high dam, a 750m long diversion tunnel and a 5.3km long head race tunnel leading to an underground power house. A 437m long tail race tunnel will take the water back to the river.

The Dhauliganga is owned by the state-run National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), the country’s largest hydro power utility, and is located on the Dhauliganga river, in the Pithoragarh district on the border of India and Nepal.