T he Sutlej rises from lake Raks-Tal near Mount Kailash in the Tibetan plateau. It is the longest of the five tributaries of the Indus. As it tumbles through the mountains in the Rampur-Kinnaur region of Himachal Pradesh, its waters feed the 1,500 MW run-of-the-river (RoR) Nathpa Jhakri hydroelectric plant. Picturesque little villages along the lush green banks offer an interesting contrast to the 62.5-metre high dam at Nathpa. The dam diverts 486 cumecs of water to a 27-km-long headrace tunnel that brings the water to the plant to fire up six 250 MW turbines. The water then flows back to the river. These villages offer an interesting contrast in another sense too. Unlike large storage dams that often displace thousands of people, sink large swathes of fertile farmlands and destroy virgin forests, Nathpa Jhakri has not adversely affected the 22 villages scattered around the 395 acre of land that was acquired for the project.
Despite its size, the project has displaced only around 500 families (about 3,000 people if you assume each family has 6 members on average) who were rehabilitated at a cost of Rs. 67 crore, both by way of cash as well as construction of houses at resettlement colonies in Jhakri. In comparison, the 1,380 MW Bhakra dam uprooted 11,777 people when over 3,1191 acres of land was acquired from 256 villages. Even though work on Bhakra started in 1960, rehabilitation is yet to be completed.
And that’s the reason why the RoR Nathpa Jhakri project is a model that most hill states in north and eastern India want to copy. More than 60 RoR power plants are planned in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
“State governments want to stay clear of land acquisition and any storage project requires a huge amount of funding to support the rehabilitation initiatives,” says an official at the Sutluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN), which operates the project. He did not wish to be identified.
RoR projects typically store just enough water to produce power for a few hours every day, eliminating the need for tall dams. Commissioned in 2004, the Nathpa Jhakri project supplies power to seven states, including Delhi, and acts as a significant booster in peak hours. The project which was executed at a cost of Rs. 8,187 crore, has already earned over Rs. 6,000 crore by way of sale of power in the first four years since it was commissioned.
Not a Panacea
But here’s a paradox. The country’s largest hydro power plant remains shut for at least 10 days a year on account of persistent maintenance problems and ends up losing around Rs. 9 crore each of those days.
Though RoR power plants appear to be the ideal solution for power generation from water, there are many negatives. First, the turbines have to be regularly serviced, as mountain rivers bring down large amounts of silt, frequently damaging machinery. The Nathpa power plant has had to invest in a workshop, costing over Rs. 10 crore, to keep the turbines working throughout the year. “We consume as many parts in one year as Bhakra may take 10 years to. This has nothing to do with inefficiency but replacements are integral to the design,” says an engineer at the plant.
The second problem is that these projects are on snow-fed mountain rivers that run out of water in the winter months as water in the upper reaches freezes over. “We generate about 37 million units when water availability is at its peak. But in the lean months between October and January, we are able to generate only around eight million units every day,” adds
the engineer.
Another criticism is that although RoR projects are designed to meet peak hour power demand, they often do not live up to expectations. Himanshu Thakkar, a researcher with the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, says that the power ministry and the Central Electricity Authority are yet to publish data that would confirm that the RoR projects have been able to meet the demand.
“We have been asking them to provide data but they say that no such assessments have been made,” says Thakkar who also says that the electricity deficit in peak hours continues to grow unabated despite the setting up of these plants. Peak power deficit in India jumped from 11.6 percent in 2008-2009 to 12.6 percent in 2009-2010.
No comments:
Post a Comment