JSCE Award FY 2024 For Asahan No. 3 Hydroelectric Power Project

Images of Asahan No. III, Source : JSCE Images

Date : June 2025

JSCE

Award

Energy

JAKARTA - JSCE (Japan Society of Civil Engineers) is a non-profit professional organization based in Japan that was established in 1914. The JSCE Awards are a prestigious award system based on a tradition of over 100 years. In 2025 (Fiscal Year of 2024 award), the Asahan No. 3 Hydroelectric Power Plant Construction Project, received the Group II Technology Award from the JSCE. (Source: JSCE Award for Asahan 3 Project)

The award is for groundbreaking projects that are recognized as having made a significant contribution to the development of civil engineering technology and contributed to the advancement of society. The Asahan No. 3 Hydroelectric Power Plant Construction Project (Lot I for the Civil Engineering Works) developed and installed a power generating facility as the 3rd power plant on the Asahan River cascade to contribute stable power supply in North Sumatra, Indonesia. Nippon Koei, as the design and construction supervision consultant received, this joint award together with PT. PLN (Persero) the project owner, Shimizu Corporation/Adhi Karya Joint Operation as the contractor.

Project Overview
Asahan No. 3 Hydroelectric Power Project is located in the upper reach of the Asahan River just below the existing Asahan No. 2 Hydropower plants. The project area is in the Province of North Sumatra and is about 260 km southeast of Medan or about 30 km east of Lake Toba.

Asahan No. 3 Project involves the construction of an Intake Structure on the Asahan River, Headrace, Pressurised Headrace Tunnel, Channel and Conduit, Underground Generation Facilities, including waterway tunnels and powerhouse cavern with associated hydraulic, electrical, and mechanical equipment. The installed capacity of this hydroelectric power plant is 174 MW (87 x 2 units), able to provide an annual energy of 1,477 GWh, harnessing a gross water head of 198 m by diverting water of 106,8 m3/sec from the Asahan River.

Images of Asahan No. III, Source : JSCE Images

The following members of Nippon Koei were individually recognized for their contributions to the project:

• Koji Baba
• Nicholas S. Felix
• Kensuke Yamamura
• Chihiro Hiraoka
• Hisashi Funaki
• Susumu Sato
• Yasushi Momose
• Ichiro Toyoshima
• Kerem Ozkaya
• Burak Tok
• Edwin Clark

The Nippon Koei project teams technical leadership, together with the collaborative efforts of PT PLN (Persero) and the Shimizu Corporation/Adhi Karya Joint Operation and dedication were instrumental in achieving the project’s objectives and aligning its execution with global best practices.

The Asahan No. 3 Hydroelectric Power Plant Construction Project introduced several innovative mechanisms for project management, including the implementation of Building Information Modeling (BIM) as the first hydropower project in Indonesia. Additionally, it established a three-member international Disputes Board and employed quantitative schedule and risk assessment to better define and monitor project costs and timelines. The project is currently undergoing evaluation to achieve gold standard certification from the Hydropower Sustainability Alliance.

It is an honour for Nippon Koei to receive the award. It is a recognition of the effort of Nippon Koei to contribute to society through technology and infrastructure.