Skip to main content

Impact of climate change: India's hydropower generation drops by 20%, by 45% in western region: SANDRP

 
Well-known civil rights organization, South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP), in a recent scrutiny, has said that “India’s hydropower generation has dropped by up to close to 20% compared to previous year in some of the months this year, even as installed capacity of hydropower projects keeps climbing relentlessly.”
“According to monthly generation figures from Central Electricity Authority, even as installed capacity of hydropower projects went up by 1516 MW in last one year, the power generation from hydropower projects dropped by 10.82%, 19.19%, 17.7% and 15.92% during February, March, April and May 2016 respectively at all India level, compared to the figures in the same months in 2015”, SANDRP says.
Pointing out that “power generation during financial year 2015-16 was 6.09% below the figure in 2014-15”, SANDRP says, “During 2014-15 itself was 4.16% lower than that in 2013-14, so if we compare with 2013-14, power generation in 2015-16 went down by a huge 10%.”
“In absolute terms the reduction of power generation from 2013-14 to 2015-16 was 13475 million units or even if we assume the price at paltry Rs 3 per unit, the loss is Rs 4041 crore”, SANDRP says, adding, “ This calculation does not take into account the additional capacity of around 2300 MW added in these two years.”
Providing a regional breakup, SANDRP says, power generation of hydropower projects of Western India, which has an installed capacity of 7392 MW, “reduced by 39.29%, 45.26% and 42.35% in March, April and May 2016 respectively compared to the same a year back.”
SANDRP believes “While reduction in power generation from hydropower projects during drought years is expected, the quantum of reduction, of up to 46% regionally and 20% nationally, should be raising concerns, when the previous year generation had already seen a drop so we are comparing with lower base.”
In South India, with an installed capacity of 11477.7 MW, the reduction for the three years was 34.26%, 18.1% and 46.6%, while in Northern Region, with the installed capacity at 18320.27 MW, saw power generation reduce by 6.43%, 14.73% and 7.22% in the three months, it adds.
Pointing out that “the reliability of hydropower projects in comes into question, since in changing climate, both droughts and floods are going to increase in frequency and intensity”, SANDRP says, “Here it should be noted that Union Power Minister recently declared that for the first time in history, India will be power surplus in 2016-17 and will not need any additional power capacity for next three years.”
Underlining that “India’s renewable power (solar + wind = 42850 MW) installed capacity has already gone past the hydro installed capacity (42783 MW) on April 30, 2016”, SANRDP says, “Since the renewable installed capacity is increasing at much faster rate, hydro installed capacity is bound to remain at much lower level than renewable installed capacity for years to come.”
“Globally, in 2015, hydropower added only a fifth of the installed capacity added through solar and wind, but as investments in solar and wind are rising much faster, they are eating into the available investments for hydro among others, so this trend of diminishing hydro capacity addition is only going to accentuate”, SANDRP says.

Comments

TRENDING

When Pakistanis whispered: ‘end military rule’ — A Moscow memoir

During the recent anti-terror operation inside Pakistan by the Government of India, called Operation Sindoor — a name some feminists consider patently patriarchal, even though it’s officially described as a tribute to the wives of the 26 husbands killed in the terrorist strike — I was reminded of my Moscow stint, which lasted for seven long years, from 1986 to 1993.

Ahmedabad's civic chaos: Drainage woes, waterlogging, and the illusion of Olympic dreams

In response to my blog on overflowing gutter lines at several spots in Ahmedabad's Vejalpur, a heavily populated area, a close acquaintance informed me that it's not just the middle-class housing societies that are affected by the nuisance. Preeti Das, who lives in a posh locality in what is fashionably called the SoBo area, tells me, "Things are worse in our society, Applewood."

Tracking a lost link: Soviet-era legacy of Gujarati translator Atul Sawani

The other day, I received a message from a well-known activist, Raju Dipti, who runs an NGO called Jeevan Teerth in Koba village, near Gujarat’s capital, Gandhinagar. He was seeking the contact information of Atul Sawani, a translator of Russian books—mainly political and economic—into Gujarati for Progress Publishers during the Soviet era. He wanted to collect and hand over scanned soft copies, or if possible, hard copies, of Soviet books translated into Gujarati to Arvind Gupta, who currently lives in Pune and is undertaking the herculean task of collecting and making public soft copies of Soviet books that are no longer available in the market, both in English and Indian languages.

RP Gupta a scapegoat to help Govt of India manage fallout of Adani case in US court?

RP Gupta, a retired 1987-batch IAS officer from the Gujarat cadre, has found himself at the center of a growing controversy. During my tenure as the Times of India correspondent in Gandhinagar (1997–2012), I often interacted with him. He struck me as a straightforward officer, though I never quite understood why he was never appointed to what are supposed to be top-tier departments like industries, energy and petrochemicals, finance, or revenue.

Environmental report raises alarm: Sabarmati one of four rivers with nonylphenol contamination

A new report by Toxics Link , an Indian environmental research and advocacy organisation based in New Delhi, in collaboration with the Environmental Defense Fund , a global non-profit headquartered in New York, has raised the alarm that Sabarmati is one of five rivers across India found to contain unacceptable levels of nonylphenol (NP), a chemical linked to "exposure to carcinogenic outcomes, including prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women."

PharmEasy: The only online medical store which revises prices upwards after confirming the order

For senior citizens — especially those without a family support system — ordering medicines online can be a great relief. Shruti and I have been doing this for the last couple of years, and with considerable success. We upload a prescription, receive a verification call from a doctor, and within two or three days, the medicines are delivered to our doorstep.

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Revisiting Gijubhai: Pioneer of child-centric education and the caste debate

It was Krishna Kumar, the well-known educationist, who I believe first introduced me to the name — Gijubhai Badheka (1885–1939). Hailing from Bhavnagar, known as the cultural capital of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, Gijubhai, Kumar told me during my student days, made significant contributions to the field of pedagogy — something that hasn't received much attention from India's education mandarins. At that time, Kumar was my tutorial teacher at Kirorimal College, Delhi University.

A sector under siege? War and real estate: Navigating uncertainty in India's expanding market

I was a little surprised when I received an email alert from a top real estate consultant, Anarock Group , titled "Exploring War’s Effects on Indian Real Estate—When Conflict Meets Concrete," authored by its regional director and head of research, Dr. Prashant Thakur. I had thought that the business would wholeheartedly support what is considered a strong response to the dastardly terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Operation Sindoor.