India's hydroelectric potential largely untapped

India’s Central Electricity Authority said the country has only developed 29% of its total hydroelectric potential of 145,320MW, with an additional 10.3% under construction.

Compared with International Hydropower Association data that shows the US has developed more than 80% of its hydropower potential and the EU more than 70% of its hydropower potential, India has significant work still to be done.

The Ministry of Power said the main challenges in development of hydroelectric potential in the country are remote location, unpredictable geology, natural calamities, environment and forest issues, rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) issues, law and order issues and inter-state issues.

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CEA carried out a Reassessment Study from 1978 to 1987 to arrive at the assessed hydropower potential of 145,320MW (for projects with a capacity above 25MW). Presently, 42104.6MW has been developed and 15023.5MW is under construction.

The government has undertaken policy initiatives to enhance the hydropower generation in the country, such as:

• Declaring large hydropower (> 25 MW) a renewable energy source.
• Providing a Hydro Purchase Obligation (HPO) as a separate entity within the Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO).
• Notification of tariff rationalization measures to bring down the hydropower tariff.
• Budgetary support for the cost of enabling infrastructure, i.e. roads/bridges and flood moderation.
• Notification of a Dispute Avoidance Mechanism through an independent engineer and Dispute Resolution Mechanism through a Conciliation Committee of Independent Experts to expeditiously and effectively address contractual disputes.
• Notification of guidelines to reduce the incidence of time and cost overrun in hydropower projects.
• Waiver of Inter State Transmission System charges on transmission of electricity generated from new hydroelectric projects.

The government provided data on the status of hydropower generation in the country as of Feb. 28, 2023. This showed that the region/state with the greatest potential per the reassessment study is Arunachal Pradesh at 50,064MW, followed by Himachal Pradesh at 18,470MW. Several region/states have installed projects that surpassed the capacity in that study, such as Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Tamil Nadu. The region/states with the greatest percent of hydropower capacity under construction are Andhra Pradesh at 29.4% and Jammu & Kashmir at 26.8%.

In addition, eight pumped storage projects with a total combined capacity of 4,745.6MW are operating and four pumped storage projects with a total combined capacity of 2,780MW are under construction in India.

In February, the Ministry of Power in India announced it was seeking comments on draft guidelines released to promote development of pumped storage hydro projects in the country. The ministry said these guidelines are being formulated to set the direction of pumped storage development with a goal to both stabilize the grid and meet peaking power demand.

Originally published on hydroreview.com