Upper Kotmale Hydro-Electric Power
Clair Falls
Project
Ceylon Electricity Board
Environment and Development in
Harmony, for Economic Prosperity
of the Nation
Introduction
The Upper Kotmale Hydro Power Project,
which was part of the Initial Mahaweli
Development Plan formulated in 1968,
was delayed due to various reasons and
was reactivated in year 2002. The water
collected by crossing the Kotmale Oya, a
tributary of the Mahaweli River near the
town of Thalawakele, will be taken to the
underground power plant in Kotmale
Niyamgamdora area through a 12.5 km
long tunnel where a capacity of 150
megawatts of electricity will be generated
and released to the National Grid for the
economic development of the nation.
St.
 Project commencement in 2003
To maintain the natural beauty and
aesthetics of the waterfall, 47,250 cubic
meters of water is released from the
reservoir daily. By the Thalawakele-Hatton
main road, a viewing gallery is constructed
by CEB for the benefit of both local and
foreign tourists who comes to visit the
Water-fall.
Project details
 The cost is 55 billion rupees
 The donor nation: Japan
 Expert advice was provided by
Electrical Power Developed Company,
Japan
 Major Contracting Companies are
• Maeda Corporation, Japan
• Maeda Nishimatsu J-V, Japan
• Kurimoto Limited, Japan
• Mitsubishi Corporation, Japan
• Kinden Corporation, Japan
 Number of resettled families :498
 Generation capacity is 150 MW
November 16.
 Commencement of commercial
operations in 2012 April 6.
Generators
 The power plant has two generators
that can generate 75 megawatts of
electricity each.
 An electromagnet in a copper coil
generates electricity by rotating 600
revolutions per minute.
 The mechanical energy received in the
turbine becomes the electrical energy.
 The Upper Kotmale Power Plant
capable of generating 409 million units
of electricity to the national grid
annually. It is enough to supply
electricity to about 500,000
households.
Transmission Line
 Electricity is transmitted from the
Upper Kotmale Power Plant at
Niyamgamdora to the Kotmale Switch
Yard in the Ata-bage area in Gampola.
 Transmission Voltage is 220kV.
 It is about 15.5 km in length.
 The transmission line consists of 45
towers.
Turbines
Two Francis type turbine machines are
installed in the plant. Each turbine can
absorb 77 megawatts of energy from water
into mechanical energy. The turbine is
housed in a spiral container.
Intake Dam
It is built near the town of Thalawakele.
Upper Kotmale dam features: The maximum supply level is 1194 m
 Type: Concrete gravity above sea level and the minimum supply
 Height: 35.5. m level is 1190 m above sea level.
 Length: 180 m Tunnel
 Width: 7 m
The reservoir has two special gates to
remove sand and silt and release water to
St. Clair waterfall.
In the event of an emergency flood, 3300
cubic meters per second can be pumped
out of the sluice gates.
Upper Kotmale headrace tunnel features:
Reservoir
 Type: Horseshoe shaped with
concrete lining
 Length: 13.5 km (including
penstock)
 Diameter: 5.8 m
 Thickness of concrete: 400 mm
At the end of the tunnel there is a top-
Upper Kotmale reservoir features:
down pipe system called penstock to direct
 Spill level: 1194 masl
water to the turbine with high pressure.
 Intake level: 1190 masl
 Drawdown: 4 m
 Live storage: 0.8 MCM
 Total storage: 2.5 MCM
 Catchment area: 310 km2