The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has cleared the 231 MW Chamera III hydro-electric project to be built with an estimated cost of Rs 1,364 crore on River Ravi in Himachal Pradesh.The Chamera-III hydel project in Chamba district envisages construction of an underground powerhouse with three generating units of 77 MW each, an official release said here on Monday. The project would generate 1108 million units annually at the tariff of Rs 2.19 per unit, it said. The 540 MW Chamera-I project is currently operating while the 300 MW Chamera-II is nearing completion, it said, adding the hydroelectric potential of the river has been estimated as 2,479 MW at 60 per cent load factor from 20 hydel schemes identified by the CEA. CEA said with the commissioning of projects on the river including 120 MW Sewa-II and Sewa-III in Jammu and Kashmir, 600 MW Ranjit Sagar dam, 90 MW UBDC power stations in Punjab and 180 MW at Bairasiul, about 55 per cent of the hydel potential of the River Ravi would be harnessed.
