On behalf of the Industrial Credit Investment Corporation of India, Hatch provided independent engineering review services for the construction of the 400-MW Vishnuprayag Hydroelectric Project in India, which was developed by Jaiprakash Power Ventures Limited (JPVL). JPVL obtained the Build-Own-Operate (BOO) concession for the construction of the Vishnuprayag hydroelectric project and awarded various contracts to construct the works, as follows:
- Civil works construction and installation of hydro-mechanical equipment
- Supply and fabrication of hydro-mechanical equipment, cement and steel
- Off-shore supply of turbo-generator equipment and auxiliaries
- On-shore supply of turbo-generator equipment and auxiliaries
- Supervision contract for installation of turbo-generator equipment and auxiliaries
- Supply and installation of balance-of-plant equipment and installation of turbo-generator equipment and auxiliaries
These contracts were covered by a wrap contract with the main civil contractor, Jaiprakash Associates Limited, to provide an overall single point responsibility for performance.
Hatch reviewed the contracts from both a technical and contractual point of view to provide assurances to the lenders that the project would meet the performance guarantees and generate the revenue necessary for the repayment of the loans.
The Vishnuprayag run-of-the-river project uses a gross head of 955 meters and flow of 50 cubic meters per second. The project is comprised of a 17-meter-high concrete diversion dam, desanding chambers, a 11.3-km-long and four-meter-diameter tunnel, a surge shaft and 1,491-meter-long, steel-lined pressure shaft of diameter with trifurcation at the bottom of three penstocks of 1.85-meter- diameters, which convey water to turbine units housed in an underground powerhouse. This project was constructed through a turnkey engineer-procure-construct arrangement and was commissioned in November 2006.
As Independent Engineer for the lender, ICICI, Hatch reviewed the technical and contractual aspects of the turnkey engineering-procurement-construction arrangement to construct the 400-MW run-of-river Vishnuprayag hydroelectric project. The Phase 1 scope of services included
- Design review of proposed new facilities
- Assessment of supply and construction contracts
- Review of construction costs and schedule
- Review of power purchase agreement
- Review of construction methodology and facilities
- Preparation of issues list for discussion with Jaiprakash Power Ventures Limited (JPVL)
- Review of financial proforma
- Preparation of an Independent Engineer's report
Phase 2 included monitoring of construction progress, certification of payments, commissioning oversight and witnessing of performance test.
Hatch will perform annual audits and operations reviews at the lender's request.
