INDIA FAILED TO TAP HYDROPOWER POTENTIAL
India is endowed with a hydro potential of 84,000 MW (at 60 per cent load
factor) or an installed capacity of around 1,50,000 MW. It is a pity that we
have harnessed barely 15 per cent our hydro potential and 7 per cent more is
under various stages of development. This leaves 78 per cent water of our rivers
flowing down to the sea unused, causing in the process severe flood damage year
after year. Data collected by Central Water Commission for the period 1953-1999
indicate an annual average of 8.113 million hectares getting flood, of which
3.567 million hectors is crop area. Average damage to crops, houses, and public
utilities has been estimated at around Rs. 1,339 crore at the year 2000 price
level.
The exploitable global hydropower potential is around 15,000 billion units in
which India's potential counts for about 4 per cent. But all the same India
ranks fifth in hydro potential. In 62 countries, hydropower share in total power
output is 50 per cent, in 23 countries 90 per cent and in 15 countries 100 per
cent. But in India hydropower share is only 24 per cent. It is a well-known fact
that countries having a larger share of hydropower have been able to offer to
their consumer significantly lower power tariffs.
It is to be regretted that beginning with the third five year plan, Indian
planers moved away from hydropower and concentrated much more on increasing
thermal power production presumably attracted by the so-called shorter gestation
period and advantage of locating thermal plants near the pit head and load
centers.
They sadly ignored the fact as brought out in a statistical review of World
Energy, 1996 that in India coal reserves would last only for another 245 years,
oil reserves for 21 and gas reserves for 38 years. This life span may shorten
even further with growth of population and resultant increased rate of
consumption of fossil fuel.
Apart from being non-polluting and clean energy, hydropower cost of generation
progressively goes down in contrast to other sources like thermal, naphtha,
gasser oil where the cost of fuel goes on increasing. On naphtha, oil and gas
there's the additional and huge outgo of foreign exchange by virtue of large
imports every year. It is said that 1 mw of hydro capacity saves $3,20,000 in
oil imports every year. Heat loss for thermal station is stated to be three to
four times the electrical energy produced. While hydropower plants operate at
above 90 per cent efficiency, modern thermal plants have an efficiency factor of
only 33 to 44 per cent.
A very significant benefit of hydel power in contrast to thermal power is the
inherent ability of hydro plants for quick starting and stopping and almost
instantaneous load acceptance and rejection. This makes them ideal for meeting
peaking power shortage, needs-current peaking power shortage in India being
around 18 per cent. In a typical power system only 60 per cent of the demand may
be for 24 hours, the balance 40 per cent arising only for six to eight hours per
day. In such a case, a total thermal base load will have to back down thereby
decreasing its plant load factor and increasing the cost per unit of generation.
If on the other hand the 40 per cent capacity during low demand hours is hydel,
it enjoy the flair of being switched on or off readily without any backing down
in the system. Also hydropower plants have less forced outages and minimum
maintenance needs.
It is time that knowledgeable professionals and experts in hydropower sector
constitute a pro-active Friends of hydro-projects group' in the important and
challenging task of expeditions rehabilitation work coupled with added value of
community and development work. They could usefully take stock of the
difficulties, constraints, bottlenecks and day to day problems faced by power
developers and suggest remedial action with a view to not finding faults or
doing nitpicking, but to go ahead with expeditious implementation.
(The author is former secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, and Ambassador to
EU, Mexico and Nepal)
