Northeast, A Hub Of Abundant Hydro Power

The northeastern part of India is a hub of hydropower. It has almost 40 per cent of the country’s total hydro potential. Additionally, the region also has abundant resources of coal, oil and gas for thermal power generation.

With the continual improvement of infrastructure and communication facilities, the North East Region stands to become the Power House of India by utilising its power potential, especially in the hydel sector, according to North Eastern Electric Power Corporation.

The region is blessed with a huge hydro potential of about 58,356 MW (>25 MW), out of which 2027 MW (about 3.47 per cent) has so far been harnessed as of 30th November 2021.

An additional 2120 MW of hydropower are under construction. The balance of about 92.9 per cent is yet to be exploited. The contribution of NEEPCO in the hydro installed capacity of NER is 1,525 MW, that is, about 75.23 per cent. Arunachal Pradesh government has decided to transfer 14 major hydropower projects from private power developers to Central Public Undertakings (CPUs), including NHPC, NEEPCO, SJVN and THDC hydropower development in the state and the signing of a memorandum of agreement (MoA) is due in May, reported The Meghalayan.

This was stated by deputy chief minister Chowna Mein after meeting Indian Power Minister RK Singh in New Delhi on March 31 to discuss the hydropower projects. “I am also happy to inform you that the Union power minister has expressed his desire to witness the signing of MoA between GoAP and CPSUs next month in Arunachal Pradesh,” Mein tweeted after the meeting. The deputy chief minister put forth the Arunachal Pradesh government’s expectations and commitment to these projects, highlighting the need to expedite their respective development. After a lengthy process of transferring these projects from private developers to the CPSUs, a final stage has almost been reached, as the state cabinet approved the MoA with the CPSUs during the cabinet meeting held in Itanagar the last week, reported The Meghalayan. “These projects will see an investment of Rs 40,000 crore in the next five to seven years and would generate green power of 2,820 MW and provide revenue of around Rs 500 crore per year in free power and around Rs 100 crore for Local Area Development.

The Cabinet approved the indicative procedure for transferring the stalled hydropower projects from the independent power producers to CPSUs in order to unlock the potential,” the state government said in a statement, reported Deccan Herald. India’s Power Minister RK Singh also added that the development of hydropower in the state will result in a substantial rise in the income generation of the people, eventually leading to Arunachal Pradesh recording one of the highest per capita incomes in the country.