To address water shortages in Telangana, India, electric motor manufacturer, WEG has supplied 14 262-ton electric motors for the world’s largest life irrigation project, the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS). Following two years of construction, the project was completed in June, 2020. The project is the largest contract WEG India has completed for the water sector.
The multi-purpose project, that commenced in 2018, not only reinforced the storage of water available for irrigation in the region — 8,000 km2 of land across 13 districts of the state — but is also increased groundwater levels in the Godavari River Basin. This increased river water supply is set to improve subsistence for the population though fishing and tourism.
To complete the project, WEG supplied 14 40MW 30-pole motors to Xylem India, one of the world’s largest hydraulic pump manufacturers. Xylem India coupled these motors to its high-capacity pumps, specified by Megha Engineering & Infrastructures, the company responsible for the engineering, procurement and construction of KLIS.
The electric motors were the largest ever manufactured in the WEG India factory, each weighing 262 tonnes, they were assembled and tested at the project site. WEG’s revenues for the project were in the range of $26 million US dollars.
“Supplying high-tech equipment to the world´s largest pumping project is a great reference for WEG, both from a technological and commercial point of view,” said João Paulo Gualberto da Silva, managing director of the WEG Energy Business Unit. “For this project, we built the largest electric motor ever manufactured by WEG India, an ambitious engineering project which will certainly open up many other global opportunities for the water and sanitation market segment.”
Having operated in India since 2001, WEG is a significant brand in South East Asia, supplying high voltage electric machines including synchronous motors and induction motors.
WEG has been manufacturing locally in India since 2011, with facilities located in Hosur-Tamil Nadu, 40 kilometres south of Bangalore-Karnataka. WEG´s Indian manufacturing operation is a greenfield project that has 800 employees and produces over 300 large rotating electric machines a year.
For more information on WEG’s electric motors for the water sector, visit weg.net.
