Paper No: 12 Environmental Management

Module: 32 Hydropower Projects and their Environmental Implications

Development Team
Prof. R.K. Kohli
Principal Investigator
& Prof. V.K. Garg& Prof. Ashok Dhawan
Co- Principal Investigator
Central University of Punjab, Bathinda

Dr Sunil Mittal
Paper Coordinator
Central University of Punjab, Bathinda
Dr. Sunil Mittal
Content Writer
Central University of Punjab, Bathinda
Dr. A.K.Jain
Content Reviewer
Central University of Punjab, Bathinda

Anchor Institute Central University of Punjab

Paper 12 Environmental Management

Environmental
Sciences Module 32 Hydropower Projects and their Environmental Implications
 Description of Module

Subject Name Environmental Sciences

Paper Name Environmental Management
Module
Hydropower Projects and their Environmental Implications
Name/Title
Module Id EVS/EM-XIX/32
Pre-requisites
Objectives To learn about the Hydropower projects and their Environmental Implications
Potential Energy, Kinetic Energy, Mechanical Energy, Environmental impact,
Keywords
ecosystem

Paper 12 Environmental Management

Environmental
Sciences Module 32 Hydropower Projects and their Environmental Implications
Module 32: Hydropower Projects and their Environmental Implications

1. Introduction
2. Definition and Principal of Hydropower Plant
3. Types of Hydropower Plants
4. Hydropower plants in India
5. Advantages of Hydroelectric Plants
6. Disadvantages of Hydro-Electric Plants
7. Implications of Hydropower Plants
8. Case studies
Conclusion

Paper 12 Environmental Management

Environmental
Sciences Module 32 Hydropower Projects and their Environmental Implications
 1. Introduction
Electricity is an important requirement for the whole world for running of electrical
equipments. Our daily basic need of life depends upon electricity. Electricity is the bone of
any nation and insufficient electricity supply is one of the main reasons of crushing
economics. There are various ways to generate electricity by using heat energy of sun,
Kinetic energy of water, coal and from nuclear energy. Now a days, hydropower is
considered as one of the most economic and non-polluting source of energy. Hydroelectricity
is the power produced by the use of gravitational force of falling or flowing water. This
technology of power generation neither produces any waste matter directly nor is subjected to
exhaustion. In these plants, kinetic energy of flowing water rotates the turbines contacted
with magnets which produce electricity. Hydro power plant depends upon the water cycle of
that area. Inadequate availability of water, reduce the electrical energy production capacity.
In past some hydro power plants had been shut down due to lack of water availability in the
dam. Hydropower plants produce 16% of total renewable energy of the world. China stands
on first rank for the production of hydroelectricity in world. India also comes under the top
ten producers of hydroelectricity. India produces approximately 4200MW by installing large,
medium and small hydro power plants. The construction of hydropower plant in area has
advantages like economic development but these may produce many ill effects on
environment, ecology and localized people of that area. This module will discuss the
definition of hydropower plants, their working, types, advantages, environmental
implications and case studies.

2. Definition and Principal of Hydropower Plant

A generating station which utilizes the potential energy of water from high head for the
production of electricity is called hydro-electric power station. Water stored in dam contains
potential energy because of the height of the dam. When water moves towards the turbine,
the kinetic energy of moving water is converted into mechanical energy through turbines.
Rotating turbine coupled with generator produces the electricity.

Paper 12 Environmental Management

Environmental
Sciences Module 32 Hydropower Projects and their Environmental Implications
 2.1 Working of Hydropower Plant
In nature, energy is neither destroyed nor produced but only transformed from one form to
another form and similarly this phenomenon occurred in case of hydro power plants. In
hydropower plants kinetic energy of water is converted into mechanical energy that generates
electricity. No doubt, hydropower plants are constructed on the bank of rivers, streams and
canals but dams are also needed because they act as batteries for storing the water that is
released according to the requirement for generation of power. Dams create a head from the
water flows and a pipe supplies the water from the reservoir to the turbine. This released fast
water hits with turbine blades and rotates the turbine or rotor of turbine that moves part of
electrical generator. Then, coil of wire on the rotor sweep past the generator’s stator or
stationary coil and power is produced and stored in grids and further electricity is supplied in
various sectors.

Paper 12 Environmental Management

Environmental
Sciences Module 32 Hydropower Projects and their Environmental Implications
 Potential Energy

Kinetic Energy

Mechanical Energy

Electrical Energy

Scheme: 1- Represents the energy transformations in Hydropower plant.

Figure 1: Working of Hydropower Plant

Source: http://slideplayer.com/slide/5840150/

Paper 12 Environmental Management

Environmental
Sciences Module 32 Hydropower Projects and their Environmental Implications
 2.2 Factors for Selection of Site
Availability of water: As the basic requirement of hydro-electric plant is water,
the availability of huge quantity of water is the main consideration. The plant must
be constructed where sufficient quantity of water is available at a good head.
Storage of water: The rainfall is not regular every year. Hence the available
water should be stored. This makes it necessary to construct dams. The storage
helps in equalizing the flow of water throughout the year.
Head of water: For getting sufficient head, dam should be constructed at a height
in a hilly area. The availability of the head directly affects the cost and economy
of the power generation.
Cost and type of land: The initial cost of the project includes the cost of the land,
so the land must be available at a reasonable price. Similarly, the type of the land
should withstand the weight of the heavy equipments to be installed.
Transportation facilities: For transporting the equipments, machinery and labor,
site selected must be easily accessible by rail and road.
Distance from load centers: The load center is connected to the site by the
transmission lines so that cost of the transmission lines should be minimum.

3. Types of Hydropower Plants

Classification of hydropower plants
a) Quantity of water available
b) Available head
c) Nature of load

Paper 12 Environmental Management

Environmental
Sciences Module 32 Hydropower Projects and their Environmental Implications
 Hydropower Plants

Quantity of water available

A Available head Nature of load
 Run-off River plants  Low head  Base load plants
without pondage  Medium Head  Peak load plants
 Run-off River plants  High Head
with pondage
 Reservoir Plants

Scheme: 2- Represents the types of the Hydropower plants.

4. Hydropower plants in India

India holds 7th position among the whole world for the production of hydroelectricity by
producing near about 4200 MW. India has a target of 5 GW renewable energy productions
from the hydropower plants by 2022 and currently in India 25 plants are working.
Table 1: Represents the number of hydropower plants in India.

S.
Name of Plant River State
No.

Andhra Pradesh/
1. Machkund Hydro Electric Power plant Machkund
Orissa

2. Nagarjuna Hydro Electric Power plant Krishna Andhra Pradesh

3. Srisailam Hydro Electric Power plant Krishna Andhra Pradesh

Paper 12 Environmental Management

Environmental
Sciences Module 32 Hydropower Projects and their Environmental Implications
 4. Sardar Sarovar Hydro Electric Power plant Narmada Gujarat

5. Bhakra Nangal Hydro Electric Power plant Sutlej Himachal Pradesh

6. Nathpa Jhakri Hydro Electric Power plant Sutlej Himachal Pradesh

7. Dehar Hydro Electric Power plant Beas Himachal Pradesh

8. Baira-Siul Hydro Electric Power plant Baira Himachal Pradesh

9. Salal Hydro Electric Power plant Chenab Jammu and Kashmir

10. Uri Hydro Electric Power plant Jhelum Jammu and Kashmir

11. Subarnarekha Hydro Electric Power plant Subarnarekha Jharkhand

12. Sharavathi Hydro Electric Power plant Sharavathi Karnataka

13. Kalinadi Hydro Electric Power plant Kalinadi Karnataka

14. Shivanasamudra Hydro Electric Power plant Kaveri Karnataka

15. .Idukki Hydro Electric Power plant Periyar Kerala

16. Rihand Hydro Electric Power plant Rihand M. P. & U. P.

17. Indirasagar Hydro Electric Power plant Narmada Madhya Pradesh

18. Bansagar Hydro Electric Power plant Sone Madhya Pradesh

19. Koyna Hydro Electric Power plant Koyna Maharashtra

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Environmental
Sciences Module 32 Hydropower Projects and their Environmental Implications
 20. Loktak Hydro Electric Power plant Leimtak Manipur

21. Hirakund Hydro Electric Power plant Mahanadi Odisha

22. Balimela Hydro Electric Power plant Sileru Odisha

23. Teesta Hydro Electric Power plant Teesta Sikkim

24. Rangit Hydro Electric Power plant Rangit Sikkim

25. Tehri Hydro Electric Power plant Bhagirathi Uttarakhand

5. Advantages of Hydroelectric Plants

 The running, operation and maintenance cost of this kind of plants are low.
 After the initial infrastructures are developed the energy is virtually free.
 The plants are totally free of pollution as no conventional fuels are required.
 The lifetime of generating plants are substantially long.
 Reliability is much more than wind, solar or wave power due to its easy availability
and convertibility.
 Water can be stored even above the dam so that excess energy can be produced during
the peak demand.
 The uncertainties that arise due to unscheduled breakdowns are relatively infrequent
and short in duration due to the simplicity and flexibility of the instruments.
 Hydro-electric turbine generators can be started and put ‘‘on-line’’ very rapidly.
 It is possible to produce electricity from hydro-electric power plant if flow is
continuously available.

Paper 12 Environmental Management

Environmental
Sciences Module 32 Hydropower Projects and their Environmental Implications
 6. Disadvantages of Hydro-Electric Plants
 The potential of hydro power depends on locations if the locations are not properly
selected may cause lots of hostility and absurdity during operational stage of the
power plant.
 The dams are very expensive to build. However, many dams are also used for flood
control or irrigation, so building costs can be shared.
 The capital cost of electrical instruments along with civil engineering works to be
installed and cost of laying transmission lines is generally high.
 The impact on plant life due to the water quality and quantity downstream of hydro
power plants are reported.
 The impact on residents and the environment may be unacceptable environmental and
social activities if location is not optimally selected.
 Due to increase in water temperature and insertion of excess nitrogen into water at
spillways, health and migration of fish as well as other aquatic plants get affected.
 Due to the installation of reservoir in the flow paths the siltation rate gets altered.

7. Implications of Hydropower Plants

i. Disrupts Aquatic Ecosystems: Hydropower dams are built in the middle of the
rivers without taking into consideration the aquatic life so that fish and other river
animals are obliged to swim against the water stream for multiple reasons and first
one reason is that they need to breed and the second one to avoid being trapped and
killed in turbines. In some occasions, dams are built in the middle of the fish
migrating paths therefore there is drastic cut on the fish population.
ii. Dam size: When a dam is constructed, it won't just be built in the river and it covers a
huge part of the land that surrounds the river. It's not that uncommon to see huge
forests being destroyed just to build one dam. As you can imagine, this affects the
natural ecosystems.
iii. Initial Costs: Cost of installation of hydropower plants is relatively higher compared
to Coal/Gas bases thermal power generation systems. In most of the cases, dams are
being constructed in some parts of the rivers that don't have the necessary roads to

Paper 12 Environmental Management

Environmental
Sciences Module 32 Hydropower Projects and their Environmental Implications
 allow the materials to get there so that new roads and new bridges are constructed.
Water reservoir and availability of grid to transmit electrical energy also adds up the
installation cost of the hydro power.
iv. Habitat destruction: Construction of hydro power stations require a huge amount of
land are demanding the shifting of the leaving place for a large number of habitats of
that area. This causes hardship to human beings and animals. One of such examples is
the Sardar Sarovar project in India.
v. The Construction Materials Need To Be The Best: When a dam is being constructed,
only the high-quality materials can be used. Otherwise, there can be a dam breakage,
just like the one that happened in China, in the Banqiao Dam. Due to the massive
flooding, 171,000 people died and millions lost their homes.
vi. Environmental Impacts: Construction of a hydropower plant has huge effects on the
environment. When any dam is constructed it changes the natural course of river and
dramatically also effects the flora and fauna. Forests are destructed and localities are
forced to move out. Water reservoirs are responsible for the emission of greenhouse
gases those effect the plant and animal lives.
vii. Wildlife Impacts: Dammed reservoirs are also used for multiple purposes, like
agricultural irrigation, flood control, and recreation. However, hydroelectric facilities
have a major impact on aquatic ecosystems. For example, though there are a variety
of methods to minimize the impact including fish ladders and in-take screens for fish
and other organisms those are injured and killed by turbine blades. Apart from this,
there can also be wildlife impacts both within the dammed reservoirs and downstream
from the facility.
viii. Life-cycle Global Warming Emissions: Global warming emissions are produced
during the installation and dismantling of hydroelectric power plants. Such emissions
depend on the size of the reservoir and the nature of the land that was flooded by the
reservoir. Small run-of-the-river plant emits between 0.01 and 0.03 pounds of carbon
dioxide equivalent per kilowatt-hour. Life -cycle global warming emissions also
depends on type of land like hydroelectric plants built in tropical areas or temperate

Paper 12 Environmental Management

Environmental
Sciences Module 32 Hydropower Projects and their Environmental Implications
 peat lands are much higher and after flooding vegetation and soil in these areas
decomposes and releases both carbon dioxide and methane.

8. Case studies
i. Banqiao Dam Project: This construction of a hydro power plant on the Ru River in
Zhumadian city, Heavan province, China started in April 1951 and completed in June
1952. Total capacity of reservoir was 492 million m3 with 375 million m3 reserved for
flood storage. Due to the massive flooding, 171,000 people died and millions lost
their homes in 1975 and it was the biggest accident of hydrological project.
ii. Narmada Project: Sardar Sarovar project was conceived in mid-1960’s on Narmada
River in Gujarat and largest westward flowing river but construction was postponed
due to disagreement between 3 states Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra
impacted by the project. Sardar Sarover dam has capacity of production of 1450 MW
of electricity, provide water to 40 million people residing in about 100 villages and
towns and irrigate almost 1.8 million hectares in Gujarat and 73000 hectares of land
in Rajasthan. In 1990, a large number of people protested for the closure of the plant.
On Christmas day 1990, 3000 people walked 100km and once Medha Patkar and 6
other went on hunger strike and it lasted 22 days until they broke the fast and it
became an international issue. Medha Patkar and Baba Amte were leading activists of
the project. Finally Supreme Court of India ruled on Sardar Sarovar dam and in 1999
ordered work to continue. Then in October 18, 2000 they ruled in favor of building
the Sardar Sarovar dam.
iii. Tehri Dam Project: This dam is located on Bhagirathi River and 200 miles of north
east of Delhi at the height of 855 feet and it is 5th largest dam in the world with
capacity of 2400 MW. In 1949 Tehri dam was conceived and chosen as tentative site
for dam in 1961. Actual construction was started in 1978 under police protection and
completed in 2003. Tehri bandh virodhi sangharsh samiti protested against dam and
74 day hunger strike was held by Sunderlal Bahuguna in 1996. He is environmental
activist who led the anti tehri dam movement for years from 1980 till 2004.During

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Environmental
Sciences Module 32 Hydropower Projects and their Environmental Implications
 2001 main bridge leading to Tehri town and close areas were submerged and 1 lakh
people were affected because there was no resettlement plan.
iv. Koyna Hydroelectric Project: This plant is India’s argest hydroelectric power plant,
located at foothills of the Sayadri hill range in Maharastra. This plant consisted of
four units, first two units completed in 1966, third & fourth in 1976 and 1990
respectively. Total production capacity of this plant is 1000 MW.
v. Gangrel Hydro Electric Power Plant: This plant is located at Gangrel in left bank of
Mahanadi River which is 90 km away from Raipur and 13 km from Dhamtari. Total
capacity of this plant is 10 MW and consists of 4 units and each of 2.5 MW. After
production of electricity water is supplied for the irrigation of fields.
vi. Salal Hydro Electric Power Plant: It is located at Udhampur in Jammu & Kashmir
on the bank of Chenab River. Total capacity of this plant is 690 MW and 6 units and
each of 115 MW. Major problem in this plant is clogging of tubes because solids level
increases from 5000 PPM to 40000 PPM during monsoons.

Conclusion
Global electricity needs are rising rapidly. In order to satisfy these needs various types of
power plants are being installed over the entire world. Hydropower may seem an
understandable choice for the production of clean, low cost electricity, yet the negative
environmental impacts of hydropower schemes are less in comparison to other types of
power plants.

Paper 12 Environmental Management

Environmental
Sciences Module 32 Hydropower Projects and their Environmental Implications