- USAID is rehabilitating, upgrading, and modernizing the Darunta Hydroelectric Plant to ensure reliable, long-term power for the people of eastern Afghanistan. The Darunta Irrigation and Hydroelectric Power Project, located 80 km east of Kabul on the Kabul River, was commissioned in 1964. The existing hydroelectric power plant houses three turbine units. Each unit has a capacity of 3.8 megawatts (MW), but all units combined now produce only eight MW of power.
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Darunta Dam was constructed by Soviet Union (USSR) companies in the early 1960’s and its power station contains three vertical Kaplan turbines (6 blade propeller) with a rated output of 3.85 MW each. Originally, the dam supplied 40 to 45 megawatts of electrical power but silting and damage to the system during the Afghan civil war was has reduced its actual output to 11.5 megawatts. The plant is currently in very poor condition and requires major rehabilitation including possible replacement of all three turbines. In the past 30 years, the Soviet-era generating equipment has not received any major repair. The dilapidated units are at risk of total failure. The power plant is not only the main source of power for the city of Jalalabad and the surrounding villages, but is also essential for irrigation water pumping in the agriculture-dependent Jalalabad region. The Darunta Hydroelectric project is one part of a multi-donor program to work with the Government of Afghanistan to provide diverse and reliable power across northern and eastern Afghanistan. ANHAM was contracted by USAID to perform the rehabilitation of the Darunta Hydroelectric Power Plant. Rehabilitation was expected to be completed date is 31 Jan 2012.
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Unit one will be rehabilitated and in service by late July 2011
A new workshop will be constructed at the facility by early fall, 2011
Units two and three will be rehabilitated by mid 2012
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