Professional Documents
Culture Documents
On
“DEVELOPMENT
OF HYDROPOWER PROJECTS”
Overview
The increasing prices of oil, gas and coal in the international markets have again
underscored the importance and desirability of development of hydro power in
India.
According to the Central Electricity Authority, the hydro power generation potential,
based on already identified sites, is close to 150,000 MW. The actual installed
capacity, at about 28,500 MW, is less than one-fifth of this potential. Even with the
14,000 MW “under construction”, the enormous hydro potential remains sorely
underutilized.
To be sure, the government has developed some very ambitious plans and
initiatives. In 2003, the then prime minister announced an initiative to achieve
50,000 MW of new capacity. The Eleventh Plan calls for addition of 21,000 MW of
hydro power. The Twelfth Plan calls for another 24,000 MW of hydro capacity
addition.
These are not easy targets to achieve. Hydro projects can prove to be especially
difficult to implement in a time-bound fashion. There are issues relating to local
government concerns, environmental impact and community
relocation/rehabilitation that are often beyond the control of the project developer.
In the Tenth Plan, for example, the target for hydro capacity addition was over
12,000 MW. The capacity added so far is only about 5,000 MW. Under the best-
case scenario, we may achieve just over 9,000 MW. This is despite considerable
improvement in the performance of the central public sector units and the entry of
private players.
100000
120000
20000
40000
60000
80000
0
86011791
1756330214
13301547229967 46769
THERMAL
1785 19194 48086 69065
NUCLEAR
`
HYDRO
-SECTORWISE(MW)
35% 29% 26 %
46% 41%
Hydro Hydro Hydro
Hydro Hydro
65% 54% 57%
Thermal Thermal Thermal 69% 70%
Thermal Thermal
Contd…
Potential
Contd…
REGION-WISE SUMMARY OF CATEGORISATION
OF THE SCHEMES
Sl. Region Category A Category B Category C Total
No.
Nos. MW Nos. MW Nos. MW Nos. MW
o Interstate disputes
o Hydro potential developed so far in the country is only about
25% of the total potential of the country
Contd…
POLICY INTERVENTIONS
Contd…
3. Advance action for capacity addition in the 10th Plan and beyond
Contd…
11. Promoting hydel projects with joint ventures.