Hydroelectricity – The perennial power house (Importance of Hydropower in developing countries)

Electricity plays a ubiquitous rule in the modern world. It touches every segment of the economy and the life of every individual. Consumption of electrical energy is an index of the economical and industrial development of the nation and the quality of life. The annual per capita power consumption (in kWh) in the country is about 350, which is lower than world average of 1000 and much lower than in developed countries, i.e., in USA it is 13,800, Australia 9950. France 7500, Israel 6340, South Korea 5552, Brazil 2063, China 1064, etc.

India has completed 5 decades with development works in each sphere including industry, agriculture and power development. Now that the country is moving with a faster pace of industrial development with globalization, it has to ensure availability of reliable power. Though India has made rapid strides in capacity addition programme in last 56 years from a mere 1364 MW in 1947 to about 1,10,000 MW in 2003, the country is still suffering from power shortages and load shedding. This is hampering the economic growth in Industrial, agricultural and other sectors. There is an urgent need to increase power generation for industrial development as well as to improve the quality of life of the vast population.

The latest demand projection indicates a peak demand of about 1,57,000 MW and energy requirement of about 975 billion units at the end of 11^th Plan (2011–12). To meet this demand, total installed capacity of about 2,12000 MW would be required at the end of 11^th Plan which means about 1,02,000 MW capacity is to be added without any retirement of unit. Presently the country is facing 9% shortage of power in off-peak demand and 20% in peak demand load. Difficulty is felt in meeting peak demand and maintaining proper grid stability due to unfavourable 75:25 thermal hydro mix in the country instead of ideal 60:40 mix. Hydroelectric power generation has been a major contributor to utility system throughout the world. It is rapidly changing and expanding world wide supplying one fifth of electricity.The economic advantages of hydropower has been enhanced in the recent years with steep increases in the energy cost from fossil fuels and the rapidly approaching limit of the exploitable resources of such fuels. The challenges before the accelerated hydropower development in India and the strategies to meet them are critically reviewed in this article.