15,000 MW of hydro plan finalised: Govt

New Delhi, July 19: The government today said 15,000 MW of capacity addition in the hydro energy sector has been finalised for the 11th plan period.

Speaking at the the Consultative Committee of the Members of Parliament who met at Salal Power Station, Jyotipuram in Jammu and Kashmir, Union Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, who was chairing the meeting, said the government has accorded high priority for development of hydro projects in the country and taken several steps in this direction including attracting private investment.

Mr Shinde informed the members that the government has also approved a three-stage clearance procedure for hydel projects to be executed by Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs) in consultation with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

The procedure was introduced to reduce time and cost over runs in execution of hydro projects. Further, it has been ensured that there would not any dearth of funds for execution of projects in Central Sector.

The minister said a number of issues such as timely sanction of projects, speedy environmental and forest clearance, rationalisation of conditions imposed on hydro projects while giving clearance on wildlife related issues, excessive payment of Net Present Value for forest land, release of minimum of 15 per cent of lean season discharge directly into the river etc. need to be addressed.

The minister said a hydro capacity of 5980 MW has already been added in the 10th Plan so far and expressed confidence that another 10,000 MW of capacity would be added in the current plan which would be highest ever capacity addition from the hydro sector in any Five Year Plan.

The country's hydro potential from major/medium schemes is placed at 84,044 MW at 60 per cent Load Factor which when fully developed, would yield an installed capacity of over 1,50,000 MW.

Out of this only 28 per cent has either been exploited or is under exploitation so far. Hydro development has experienced a steady rise from 508 MW in 1947 to 32,735 MW now, which indicates a growth of hydro power by about 63 times in a period of over five decades.

The growth of thermal power has, however, been as much as 96 times during the same period. The share of hydro power at present accounts for only about 26 per cent of the total capacity.

The minister said in order to facilitate the entry of the private sector in hydro generation, the Centre has issued guidelines empowering the state governments to develop hydroelectric projects having a capacity of up to 100 MW by the MoU route, in case this route is considered more feasible. Projects above 100 MW are, however, required to be developed through tariff-based bidding.

On National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), the minster informed the members that it is a consistently profit making company and with investments exceeding Rs 23,500 crore, it is among the top ten companies of the country in terms of investment.

He said as the country's leading hydro power developer, it also registered a net profit of Rs 743 crore and achieved all time high sale turnover of Rs 1714 crore during financial year 2005-06.

The members expressed the need to exploit the potential to achieve greater results. They also suggested that concerns of local population regarding employment generation should be addressed while implementing new projects.

UNI