Significance of Hydro Power in India’s Energy Mix

India’s energy requirement is expected to increase manifold in the coming decade to attain the targeted Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate. The adverse effects of climate change phenomenon have highlighted the significance of electricity generated from non-fossil fuels. Moreover, financial burden due to import of coal, oil and natural gas and environmental concerns mandate the development of renewables in the country’s energy mix. India is blessed with rivers at various locations which are being harnessed for producing hydro electricity – which is a clean energy source. Indian Government has made the following commitments at the COP 26 events at Glasgow in Scotland -

• As the fourth-largest carbon-emitting market globally, India has lagged behind much of the world’s leading power markets including China and the US who have outlined a net zero target by 2060 and 2050 respectively but now India has outlines a net zero emissions target by 2070.

• India is targeting to increase its low-carbon power capacity (non fossil fuel) to 500 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 and meet 50 per cent of its total energy requirements by 2030 and cut carbon intensity by 45 per cent.

Increased prioritization of clean energy projects and promotion of policies that support renewable energy are helping India develop a more efficient clean energy mix. Since signing the Paris Agreement, the government has significantly increased the budget allocation and expenditure for the renewable energy sector. Funding has been directed toward grid purchase and distributed renewable power; rural, urban, industrial, and commercial applications; research and development; and other supporting programs. The government has also encouraged faster adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) by offering upfront incentives to purchase vehicles and include solar storage batteries.

Benefits of Hydropower
The benefits created by hydro power, which is one of the sources of non polluting electricity generation, are numerous. Apart from reducing carbon emissions, they include capacity to bring electricity to new remote locations, thus improving living standards and opportunities to new communities, ability to increase security over energy generation and be less dependent on geopolitical issues. Hydropower is clean and cheap in long run. Solar and wind power provide clean energy but are intermittent as they are dependent on sun and wind availability. Thermal power and hydropower compensate for the intermittent nature of solar and wind, providing stability to the electric grid. Technical capabilities of hydropower, such as quick start-stop, black-start, spinning reserve, voltage and frequency regulation are more suited to stabilize a dynamic grid. Hydropower is highly relevant for grid integration of renewable energy and for balancing infirmities.
 

Challenges
India has an estimated hydropower potential of 1,45,320 MW, excluding small hydro projects (SHPs). Several hydroelectric projects (HEPs) in India are languishing due to contractual conflicts, environmental litigations, local disturbances, financial stress and unwilling purchasers. Only about 10,000 MW of hydropower could be added over the last 10 years. In a bold move, the Government of India accorded renewable energy (RE) status to large HEPs in March 2019, enabling new HEPs to receive concessions and green financing available to RE projects.

Hydropower projects have large-scale socio-economic and environmental implications and hence they have to face various challenges like land acquisition which is a time consuming process, Resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) issues, forest clearances, financial issues, development of roads and bridges.

In order to achieve the above, it is all the more essential that we focus on hydropower, without which the target of 500 GW power generated by non fossil fuels can’t be achieved. With Power Minister recently assured adequate focus on hydropower, we are sure India would significantly improve its hydropower generation in coming years. A mix of Solar, Wind, Hydro and Green hydrogen can definitely result in India achieving her clean energy targets.

- Salil Gupta, Chairman, Power, RE & AE Committee, PHDCCI