New Delhi, Mar 01: The government today said it would add more than 21,000 mws by 2012 through harnessing the largely-untapped hydro-power sector of the country.
Speaking at a conference organised by the National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC), Minister of State for Power Jayawanti Mehta said hydro-power development has been identified as one of the most important and effective toll towards providing the end consumer with affordable and quality power. Power Secretary R V Shahi pointed out that small hydro projects have a key role in bringing electricity to rural areas. Hydro power has a long life and the cost of the power will diminish over a short period. The minister said with India being endowed with hydro-potential of about 2,50,000 mws and ranked fifth in the world, the accelerated hydro-power development could be the best way to bridge the energy shortages in this country. India, according to Goldman Sachs, is en route to becoming the next super power in terms of development. To sustain this pace, India's consumption of electricity will rise to 1.4 per cent for every percentage growth in GDP. ''We already have more than 1,10,000 mw of generation capacity. Out of that, India has developed about 28135 mw of hydro power capacity and more than 12500 mw of hydropower capacity is under active execution stage in the country. There are further plans to add more than 21000 mw by 2012,'' the minister added. NHPC chairman and managing director Yogendra Prasad said to arrest the alarming decline in the hydro-thermal mix, the government has been consistently providing support for development in hydro sector with the introduction of new hydro policy in 1998. ''India is all set to achieve the ambitious plan of harnessing 31,000 mw addition of hydro capacity by 2022,'' Prasad said. Bureau Report