'Ministry to remove hurdles for hydro power project'

 With the government setting the target to add 5 GW of small hydro power to its renewable energy capacity by 2022, Power Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said the Centre will remove all hurdles coming in the way to setting up of small hydro projects in the country.

The government is studying all international experiences, and bringing out a separate policy to encourage investors to invest in ecofriendly power projects, the minister said, adding that he will visit Arunachal Pradesh to review some of the power projects.

Insisting that the government will give a major thrust by different ways to bring down the cost of hydro power, he said that all issues related to hydro power projects will be addressed to revive stalled plants. 

In the present scenario, the small hydro projects up to 25 MW are treated as renewable energy, while big hydro projects do not get incentives being provided by the government for encouraging clean energy. 

The minister said the government is also working on removing the distinction between big and small hydro projects as the New and Renewable Energy Ministry is in the process of drafting a Cabinet proposal to reclassifying large hydro power plants as renewable projects, a move which can help India achieve clean power capacity of 230 GW by 2022.

India has set an ambitious target of adding 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022, which includes 100 GW of solar, 60 GW from wind, 10 GW from bio-power, and 5 GW from small hydro power (up to 25 MW capacity each).

Of the 310 GW of installed power generation capacity, 43 GW comes from large hydro projects (above 25 MW) and 46 GW from other renewable power generation capacities.

The Niti Ayog has already prepared a report on stalled hydro power projects, mentioning the reasons for the project getting delay.

Earlier, Planning Minister Rao Inderjit Singh had informed the Lok Sabha that the planned hydro power generation capacity addition of 4,371 MW out of total target of 10,897 MW in the 12th Plan will not be completed.