Almatti Dam

Lal Bahadur Shastri Dam
Almatti Dam with its right bank power house
Official nameUpper Krishna-I (Almatti)
LocationAlmatti,
Nidgundi, Bijapur district, Karnataka
Coordinates16°19′52″N 75°53′17″E / 16.331°N 75.888°E / 16.331; 75.888
Construction began1963
Opening dateJuly 2005
Construction cost₹ 520 crores
Operator(s)Karnataka Power Corporation Limited
Dam and spillways
ImpoundsKrishna River
Height524.26ft
Length1565.15 ft
Reservoir
Total capacity123.08 Tmcft at 519 m MSL
Catchment area33,375 sq. km
Surface area24,230 hectares
Minimum Draw Down Level : 504.75 m MSL

The Lal Bahadur Shastri Dam is also known as Almatti Dam is a hydroelectric project on the Krishna River[1] in North Karnataka, India which was completed in July 2005. The target annual electric output of the dam is 560 MU (or GWh).[2]

The Almatti Dam is the main reservoir of the Upper Krishna Irrigation Project; the 290 MW power station is located on the right side of the Almatti Dam. The facility uses vertical Kaplan turbines: five 55MW generators and one 15MW generator. Water is released in to the Narayanpur reservoir after using for power generation to serve the downstream irrigation needs. Two separate facilities namely, Almatti 1 Powerhouse and Almatti II Powerhouse each separated by distance do provide power generation capabilities.

During the initial stages of the project, estimated costs were projected as ₹ 1,470 crores, but following the transfer of project's management to the Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL), the estimated cost was reduced by over fifty percent to ₹ 674 crores. KPCL eventually completed the project at an even lower cost of ₹ 520 crores.[citation needed] The entire dam was finished in less than forty months, with construction ending in July 2005. The dam is located on the edge of Vijayapura and Bagalkote districts. Geographically, it is located in the Vijayapura district,[3] but large areas of Bagalkote district have also been submerged due to filling of the reservoir. The dam holds a gross water storage capacity of 123.08 TMC at 519 meters MSL.[3][4] The backwaters of the dam host several migratory birds during summer.[5]

Lal Bahaddur Shastri Dam, Alamatti
  1. ^ ""Map of Krishna River basin"" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 August 2017. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
  2. ^ "CEA Monthly Generation Report". Archived from the original on 3 April 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
  3. ^ a b Upper Krishna project at Karnataka water resources website
  4. ^ Oasis (4 August 2011). "How to Reach any City in India". howtoreach.info. Blogger. Archived from the original on 1 August 2013. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  5. ^ Rozindar, Firoz (21 May 2019). "Over 2,000 flamingoes found in Almatti backwaters in Vijayapura-Bagalkot". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 23 February 2020.