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New Delhi: The power ministry is reworking its planned hydro power policy in order to carve out a ₹4,000 crore grant for North-eastern states as a separate scheme, said two people aware of the developments.
The initial draft included the grant for North-eastern states to take up equity in hydro projects and provide the required investment.
The decision to revise the policy was taken after the prime minister’s office (PMO) asked the ministry to come up with a pure play policy and roll out the incentive for North-eastern states as a separate scheme, said one of the two persons.
The Central Electricity Authority is working on the revised draft and is likely to release it soon.
“Comments were received on the first draft. Earlier the scheme of giving assistance to North-eastern states was included in the policy. But the PMO suggested we draft a separate scheme for North-eastern states, and the policy should be a pure policy. Both the documents will be different. A draft is being prepared for the pure policy; CEA is working on it,” the person added.
On 2 July, Mint had reported that the new hydropower policy is expected to provide a ₹4,000 crore grant to the states to help them pick up equity in hydro projects.
The other person said the policy will include budgetary support for building infrastructure for hydro power projects, including roads and transmission lines.
“The policy will deal with how to encourage hydro. There will be separate incentives,” he said.
Queries mailed to the ministry of power and prime minister’s office remained unanswered at press time.
The Economic Times had earlier reported that under the policy, the power ministry has proposed a ₹16,000 crore outlay for hydro power projects including the grant for North-eastern states to pick up equity stakes. The hydropower push comes in the backdrop of India’s ambitious energy transition plans and the need to protect its lower riparian rights as China works to dam the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra.
India has a hydropower capacity of 52 gigawatts (GW) with another 18GW either in the implementation stage or bid out. Out of a target of 500GW installed renewable energy capacity, hydropower is expected to make up 78GW.
Late last year, state-run NHPC Ltd submitted a pre-feasibility report to the CEA for the 11GW Upper Siang Multipurpose Storage project at a capital expenditure of ₹1.13 trillion that will be the largest hydropower project in the country.
This, along with other hydro projects on the Brahmaputra, known as Siang in Arunachal Pradesh, is part of India’s attempt to counter China’s water diversion. The northern neighbour has been building a number of dams upstream of the Brahmaputra.
Hydropower is key for India’s energy transition as solar and wind are intermittent.
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Published: 12 Dec 2023, 09:28 PM IST
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