Even as it is getting increasingly tough to execute large hydro-projects in India, the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan has offered a glimmer of hope.
Bhutan has begun work on a set of new hydro-power projects totalling over 11,000 MW to be commissioned progressively over the next 10 years. Most of the electricity generation from these projects is to be wheeled into India, with power flows expected to commence as early as 2015-16.
The Central Electricity Authority (CEA), an apex power planning body in India, has been asked to assist Bhutan in preparing an integrated transmission roadmap with a focus on facilitating export of power from Bhutan to India, besides supplying to load centres within Bhutan.
A first draft of the National Transmission Grid Master Plan, which chalks out the roadmap till 2020, has already been submitted to the Bhutanese Government, official sources said. The projects on the anvil include the massive 4,060 MW Sankosh project, the largest in South Asia. The proposal could be a big booster for India in meeting future peaking power demand, coming at a time when there is increasing opposition to hydro-projects in the country and fuel shortages are projected to hit thermal generation.
Indian Projects shelved
Increasing activism among environmentalists and civil society has already forced some major hydro-projects to being shelved. NTPC Ltd was forced to shelve its Loharinag Pala project in Uttarakhand, where the State-owned firm had incurred an investment of about Rs 600 crore and placed equipment orders for another Rs 2,000 crore. Plans for two other projects — the 480 MW Pala Maneri and 381 MW Bhairon Ghati on the Bhagirathi River — also had to be aborted midway amid local protests.
At present, Bhutan has three hydro-projects that are generating power. Bulk of the electricity produced at the hydro-projects at Chukha (336 MW), Kurichu (60 MW) and Tala (1,020 MW) in the Himalayan kingdom, which have been implemented with technical and financial assistance of India, is being exported to India after meeting the internal demand of Bhutan. India also exports power to Bhutan during winter period when there is reduced hydro-generation in Bhutan. New projects on the radar, apart from the mega Sankosh project, include the 1,200 MW Punatsangchhu-I project, the 900 MW Punatsangchhu-II and the 720 MW Mangdechhu project.
The success of the Tala project has spurred Bhutan to develop its hydro-power resources. Primarily fuelled by the hydro-power projects, especially after the commissioning of the Tala project in the middle of the last decade, Bhutan's GDP growth has averaged over 7 per cent during the past six years.
In 2007 and 2008, Bhutan actually grew faster than China, with growth rates of 12.6 per cent and 10.8 per cent respectively, according to Asian Development Bank estimates. Bhutan's economy is projected to grow at 7.2 per cent this year, according to estimates firmed up by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.
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