Mini hydel projects are cheapest source of power

The production of power in India is mainly from thermal, hydroelectricity (hydel), nuclear, wind  and solar sources. Out of these, thermal generation tops the list with about  67%  of total power generation followed  by  hydel, which is about 27 % and the remaining is generated from other sources.

Quite interestingly, India’s per capita  power consumption was a meagre 13 units in 1947 with an installed capacity of around 1,350 MW  which has now gone up to around  800 units with an installed  capacity of around  2,50,000 MW with the annual generation of around 930 billion units in the last  year. 

In Karnataka

When it comes to Karnataka, the daily power consumption in summer goes above  200 million units in spite of load shedding. 

In fact, Kanataka presently has about 10,000 MW installed capacity which includes 6,500 MW owned by the state-run  company ---- Karnataka Power Corporation (KPC) --- and around 2,600 MW owned  by  private  sector  and  860 MW from nuclear power  owned  by  Nuclear  Power  Corporation  which  has to be shared with other states.

In addition, Karnataka also gets its share from the Central grid. As the above installed capacity and central share is insufficient to meet the power demand, the government  is taking action to implement many power projects, both in private and public sectors to make the state self-sufficient in power.

The present main source of power in Karnataka is thermal and hydel, which are almost in equal proportions compared  with the national ratio of 70:30.  The state has one of  the highest hydro potential in the country with an estimated power potential of around 7,000 MW. In this, only 50% has  been tapped so far. Sharavathi, Kali, Varahi, Gerusoppa and the dam-based power plant of Upper  Krishna Project are the major hydel plants of  the state which are supplying power to the state grid.

The power produced from major hydel projects is the cheapest source of power compared to all  other sources and its maintenance coast is also low. But most of these projects come in the Western Ghats area and its execution involves submersion of thousands of acres of land, mainly forest land  and displacement of huge population and also it effects the environment.

The next cheapest source of power is thermal. There are three thermal power plants producing  power in Karnataka, namely Raichur and Ballari plants of Karnataka Power Corporation and Udupi power plant (UPCL) belonging  to private sector. One more thermal  power  plant  is also  going  to  be commissioned shortly near Raichur. Procurement  of coal is the main problem since the state does not have any coal mines and hence it has to be obtained from other coal mining states through railways or it has to be imported from other countries through sea route and this reflects on the cost  of power.  The next source of power for Karnataka is mini hydel and  windmills and out of this, mini hydel  source is considered  to be cheapest  next  to  major hydel source. Hydel power plants of  installed  capacity  less  than 25 MW  are  called  mini hydel  plants.

Potential

The west flowing rivers, irrigation canal drops and hill  streams are the  potential source of mini  hydel  scheme  in  Karnataka. 

According to the Union government  policy  formulated  in 1991, the state government has ordered allotment of many mini hydel projects to private sector developers. The government so far accorded permission to execute mini hydel projects and generate power in  about  458  locations  with  their installed  capacities aggregating to 2,654 MW. 

Private developers  have so  far commissioned  some  of the  projects  aggregating  around 700 MW  and  many  projects  are under execution.

Mini  hydel  source  in  DK

Dakshina  Kannada   district  has the  highest  source  of  mini  hydel projects  in  the state  aggregating  to  around  400 MW.  
Already,   10 mini  hydel  power  plants  have been constructed across  rivers  Nethravathi, Kumaradhara  and  Gurupura  aggregating  to 130 MW  in  the  district  which  generates  around  two million units daily during the monsoon. 

Another five more projects  which have  already  got  clearance  from  the  government  are also in the initial stage of implementation. The  storage  of  water  in  the  barrages  built  across  the rivers  of  these  projects helps to provide water for the  irrigation pump sets of farmers and meets the drinking water needs of towns and city during  summer  when there is scarcity of water. Water stored in the reservoirs of the mini hydel scheme helps to increase the water table of the adjoining area and also offers good location for tourism.

On the other hand, thermal power project is ruled out in the district because of thick population and  scarcity of land and the environment problem of desposal of fly ash. Wind project is not viable as  wind speed is low and difficult to get the large extent of land at reasonable cost to develop the wind  project, the only alternate for the generation of power in the district is mini hydel projects.

Sankappa Shetty K
(Former Director, Karnataka Power Corporation)