New Delhi: Voith Siemens Hydro Power Generation, in consortium with Jaiprakash Industries Ltd, has been selected to build the new 520 MW hydropower station at Omkareshwar.

The Omkareshwar Hydro Power Project, on the Narmada River in Khandwa district, Madhya Pradesh, is being built by the Narmada Hydroelectric Development Corporation Ltd, a joint venture of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) with the Madhya Pradesh state government.

After commissioning, it will be among India''s largest hydropower stations — with eight units, each with a rated capacity of 65 MW — a total output of 520 MW. The projected time of completion is 48 months.

Voith Siemens Hydro will supply the complete electromechanical equipment consisting of eight vertical units (Francis turbines and synchronous generators) along with associated auxiliaries and a 220-KV outdoor switchyard. The total volume of order is euro 280 million, of which the Voith Siemens Hydro share amounts to euro 123 million.

The signing of this contract nine months after establishing a local subsidiary in New Delhi, is another milestone in Voith Siemens Hydro''s intensified activities within India''s hydropower development.

A group division of the euro 3.3 billion German engineering giant Voith AG, Voith Siemens Hydro is associated with construction of several major hydropower projects in India, including the 900-MW Baglihar Hydro Project near Jammu, and the rehabilitation of the 64-MW Hirakud Hydro Station in Orissa. Recently units of the Tata Power Company''s Khopoli Hydro Project in Maharashtra, also set up by Voith Siemens Hydro, were commissioned.

Another of Voith''s group divisions, Voith Turbo, manufactures hydrodynamic drives, couplings and braking systems for road, rail and industrial applications at its manufacturing facility at Hyderabad. Voith Turbo is supplying helical gears and couplers for the prestigious Metro Project in New Delhi.

Voith Siemens Hydro Power Generation is one of the leading hydro-power equipment manufacturers worldwide and has installed one-third of the world''s hydro power with its turbines and generators. With a workforce of around 2,400 employees and an annual turnover of euro 600 million in the last fiscal year, it is a group division of Voith AG.

Voith AG is setting standards worldwide for papermaking technology, power transmission, power plant equipment and industrial services. Founded in 1867, Voith is one of the large family-owned companies in Europe with approximately 24,000 employees, a turnover of euro 3.3 billion and over 180 locations worldwide.