By Baldev Chauhan BBC,Shimla

Blackouts are common in energy starved India

The plant, located in the Himachal Pradesh state, can generate 1500 megawatts of power.

It will provide electricity to northern states of Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh.

Indian Power Minister Anant Geete has inaugurated the first unit of the Nathpa Jhakri Power Project Corporation.

Five other units will begin working over the next few months.

Work on the project began in 1992-over three decades after it was planned.

The project is worth 1.9 billion dollars and has been largely funded by the federal government and the World Bank.

`Biggest power house in Asia'

The plant has "the world's largest underground desilting complex and one of the world's longest power tunnels (nearly 28 kilometre)," said YN Apparao, chairman & director of the power board.

"The power house is the biggest in Asia," he said.

The Himalayan states of Himachal Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh have nearly two- thirds of India's hydropower capacity.

Officials say only a negligible amount of this has been tapped so far.

This is largely because hydropower is expensive to tap and funds have been scarce.

"The power generated by the project will to a large extent meet the needs of power deficient northern India," VK Verma, a senior manager of the project told the BBC.

Northern India faces frequent power breakdowns, particularly in summers, when most of the region sizzles under extreme temperatures.