Oldest hydel power plant on Eastern Ghats, opened by India’s first President, completes 69 years of service

Machkund Hydroelectric Project, inaugurated by India's first President, generates 63MW electricity, serving Andhra Pradesh and Odisha for 69 years.

Machkund Hydroelectric Project (MHEP), the State’s oldest engineering marvel, inaugurated by India’s first President Babu Rajendra Prasad, has completed 69 years of its service since its commissioning on August 19, 1955.

Located on the slopes of the Eastern Ghats along the inter-State border of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, 185 km from Visakhapatnam, the project had an installed capacity of 120MW power generation. It is still generating 63MW of electricity to meet the needs of the people of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.

A maximum of 2.88 million units of electricity can be generated per day. The highest recorded generation in a month was 79.042 million units in a month (June, 2023). If modernisation works like replacement of turbines, transformers are done, the installed capacity can be increased from 120MW to 150MW. It now has six generators with technology and machinery imported from the United States, United Kingdom and Germany.

“We are celebrating the plant’s commissioning day today). In 1955, President Babu Rajendra Prasad had specially come here to inaugurate this plant. Its construction began in 1946, before independence. At present, we are able to generate 63MW of electricity against the installed capacity of 120MW,” MHEP Deputy Executive Engineer N. Raj Kumar told The Hindu on Monday (August 19).

According to MHEP officials, the plant was originally proposed by Maharaja Vikram Dev Varma of Jeypore in Odisha to provide electricity to his villages in 1920s. He entrusted the task to British engineer Henry Howard, who discovered the Duduma Falls and started working on the project from 1929, and suggested a suitable site for the plant near the Duduma Falls, 500 metres below.

Finally, from 1946, with an investment of ₹18 crore, work began with three generators. A special winch (2,750 feet) was also installed at an investment of Rs ₹60 lakh to transport the manpower and machinery required for the construction of the plant.

The plant is located in Jolaput of Koraput district in Odisha on the Machkund river (locally known as Matsyagedda). The reason behind the power-sharing by both Odisha and Andhra Pradesh is that it is located in Odisha, but the water required for the project comes from Andhra Pradesh.