Volume 6 hydro power 6 08 – the recent trend in development of hydro plants in india

Volume 6 hydro power 6 08 – the recent trend in development of hydro plants in india Volume 6 hydro power 6 08 – the recent trend in development of hydro plants in india Volume 6 hydro power 6 08 – the recent trend in development of hydro plants in india Volume 6 hydro power 6 08 – the recent trend in development of hydro plants in india Volume 6 hydro power 6 08 – the recent trend in development of hydro plants in india Volume 6 hydro power 6 08 – the recent trend in development of hydro plants in india

SP Sen, NHPC Ltd., New Delhi, India

© 2012 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved

6.08.1 Present Status and Future Planning

The installed generating capacity in India as on 31 March 2009 is 147 965 MW This included thermal (coal, gas, and liquid), hydro, nuclear, and renewable-based generation Nearly 84.5% of the installed capacity is with State Governments and Central Government-owned companies

As on 31 March 2009, hydropower constituted 36 878 MW, which is about 25% of the total capacity The State Organization and Central Government companies have a more prominent role with about 97% of hydropower generation capacity, out of which nearly 73% is in the state sector India has a federal constitution with 28 states and 7 union territories Each state has its power utilities producing power and connected through state, region, and country transmission grid

The energy resources of the country are unevenly distributed with bulk of the hydro resources in the northern, southern, and northeastern parts, and fossil fuel resources in the eastern, central, and western parts

The Asian Development Bank, in its assessment of hydropower development in India, summarizes as follows [1] With regard to the generation, particularly the fuel mix, coal is likely to be the mainstay in the near future with focus on clean coal technologies However, India’s coal reserves are limited There are also problems of high ash content, processing and washing of coal, regulatory issues regarding transportation of coal, environmental issues, and so on With regard to the option of natural gas, the supplies are very limited and there is a concern of price viability In case of liquefied natural gas (LNG), it has to be totally imported and is linked

to the global price of crude oil; there will be a huge price risk in importing LNG Presently, there is a renewed focus on nuclear power However, a very large capacity addition is not likely in the near future Also there are concerns of the availability of uranium and cost related to its mining In recent years, the government has been giving special emphasis for promotion of renewable sources

of energy, but the contribution for this could be limited, especially if hydropower is not included, considering the large power requirement of the country; hence, keeping in view the country’s energy security, accelerated development of hydropower has to be a top priority

In the present scenario in India, hydro stations are the best choices for meeting the peak demands, which also plays a subsequent role in supplementing and stabilizing a system largely dependent upon thermal sources of energy Another important role that the hydropower stations are playing and likely to play very effectively in the coming years is as a source for the development of remote and backward areas, especially around the Himalayan belt of northwestern/northeastern India

The first scientific study to assess the hydroelectric resources in the country was undertaken during the period 1953–59 This study concluded the economical utilizable hydropower potential at 42 100 MW (corresponding to an annual energy generation of

221 billion units)

The reassessment study completed in 1987 by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) raised this figure to an order of about

84 000 MW (with installed capacity of about 150 000 MW) to be generated from a total of 845 power stations In addition

56 project sites for development of pumped-storage capacity schemes with aggregate installed capacity of about 94 000 MW were identified

In the Hydro Development Plan for the 12th 5-year plan, CEA [3] has done a detailed strudy of projects available for implementation The projects/power stations that have been identified as a potential source of hydropower have been prioritized from the point of view of project implementation and execution by CEA Based on the present status of preparedness, the potential projects have been classified into category ‘A’, ‘B’, and ‘C’ Ten major aspects that play a vital role in implementation of all hydro projects were adopted and considered as the criteria for a ranking study These were rehabilitation and resettlement aspects, international aspects, interstate aspects, potential of the scheme, type of scheme, height

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of dam, length of conductor system, accessibility to site, status of the project, and status of upstream or downstream hydropower development, but not in the same order of importance as listed here

Four hundred schemes with a probable installed capacity of about 107 000 MW were prioritized in these categories Accordingly, Category A has 98 schemes 15 641 MW, Category B has 247 schemes 69 853 MW, and Category C has 54 schemes 21 416 MW that was identified by CEA

Subsequently in 2003, CEA initiated a process of preparation of a pre-feasibility report of 162 schemes at a cost of US$5 million and awarded to seven Government-owned agencies/State agencies as consultants The pre-feasibility report was more a desk study based upon data/information already available for such project sites and use of satellite imageries, remote sensing information, and

a reconnaissance survey/visit by a multidisciplinary team

Out of 162 projects and 47 930 MW generating capacity proposed, projects that can be or will be pursued with approach to expeditious development will be about 140 and with installed capacity around 40 000 MW These projects will have about 700 km

of tunnels to be constructed mainly in the difficult terrains of the Himalayas and will have gross storage of about 15–20 billion m 3The country is now in the middle of the 11th Plan spanning 2007–12 In the 11th Plan, the total capacity addition of

78 000 MW, out of which 15 627 MW is from hydro projects, is proposed Up to 31 March 2009, 3431 MW of hydro projects have been commissioned Balance projects are under active execution Annual accounting and planning is from 1 April of a year to

31 March of the next year For ensuring the 12th Plan success spanning years 2012–17 CEA has adopted a strategy of advanced planning [2] Since early 2008 it has started identifying the shelf-life of projects, which are likely to be a potential candidate for the 12th Plan Eighty-seven projects with likely benefits of 20 000 MW in the 12th Plan have been identified

Presently, in India it takes about more than 10 years for developing medium to large size hydro projects, concept to commissioning The construction period of a reasonable size of hydro project after obtaining all the clearance and financial arrangements varies from 5 to 7 years

The advance planning and monitoring of these projects have started in right earnest, and required statutory clearances, necessary action to fix the infrastructure bottlenecks, and so on, are being taken up actively Project owners, both government and private agencies, are being regularly assisted for the purpose of advanced project implementation planning

This process shall go a long way to achieving the ambitious programme of 20 000 MW development in the 12th Plan The total potential in hydroelectricity as assessed by CEA is 140 701 MW, out of which the capacity developed is 36 878 MW and under development is another 13 675 MW The region-wise hydropower potential in terms of installed capacity is given in Table 1 Contributions from the private sector for hydropower development has been small to date with the major developers being the state and central Agencies (Figure 1)

Breaking up this potential as per geographical region and basin, the hydropower potential is concentrated mainly in Himalayan river basins, which are the Brahmaputra, Indus, and Ganga The rest of the potentials is in the peninsular rivers or non-Himalayan rivers (Table 2)

About 120 000 MW is presently from the Himalayan rivers, out of which only about 18 500 MW have been developed In the peninsular rivers, the potential is only 28 000 MW, of which about 19 400 MW has already been developed In the past few years, more development of hydropower has taken place in peninsular rivers other than Himalayan rivers in relation to the

Table 1 Break up of hydropower potential by region

Region

Potential assessed (MW)

Potential developed (MW)

Potential under development (MW)

Balance potential (MW)

Private Central State

Figure 1 Generation of hydropower by sector

Persons resettled per MW(log scale)

1000

KalabaghBasha

Area submerged per MW (log scale)

Table 2 Break up of hydropower potential by river basin

Hydro potential

Himalayan rivers Brahmaputra 66 065 120 608

Indus 33 832 About 30 300 already developed and under development

Peninsular river East flowing river 14 511 28 093

West flowing river 9430 About 20 200 already developed and under development Central Indian river 4152

Figure 2 Environmental and social indicators for hydropower dams

potential available It is recognized today that majority of the Himalayan sites are the most socially and environmentally benign in the world (Figure 2) [8]

Looking at hydropower development from a global point of view, the most encouraging development is that after many years of contradictory approach, the World Bank now considers hydropower of all sizes and configurations to be renewable At present, hydropower accounts for more than half of the World Bank group’s renewable energy portfolio It is stated by the World Bank that hydropower infrastructure plays a dual role in meeting the climate change challenges It is the largest source of affordable, renewable energy, and a low carbon fuel plays a critical role in mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emission Increasing the share of hydropower

in India’s energy mix from the present 24% to around 35% (CEA generally proposed about 40%) will avoid 138 Mt CO2 per year from alternative coal generation, equal to 8.5% of emission in India in 2015

Hydropower infrastructure also plays an important role in climate adaptation Climate change will exacerbate hydrologic variability, the consequence changes in the long-term water balance, and intensification of extreme weather events In India, the rainfall season is well defined and covers only a period of 4–5 months out of 12 months, and out of 4 months, 70–80% of the rainfall comes in 20–25 days in the full monsoon period (the effect of hydrological variability shall be even more intense); this increases the risk and uncertainty in the hydrological infrastructure management and operation

In the recent past, hydropower development in India was largely affected due to many issues over and above the financing of the project and are as follows: poorly identified and managed projects, environmental risks, a narrow approach to resettlement issue based on compensation for land, and also most importantly no priority to the socioeconomic development of the people in and around of the project areas Table 3 [6] gives a target versus achievement of hydropower capacity addition plan-wise that reflects sluggish development

6.08.1.1 World Bank Comments

Hydropower being an indigenously available, clean and renewable source of energy, the Government of India is keen to use the largely untapped potential in this area – currently, only 23% of India’s hydro potential is being utilized to provide the additional generating capacity it needs [4]

Table 3 Break up of hydropower capacity addition from each 5-year plan

Target capacity addition Actual capacity addition

Also, the Government of India is committed to developing world-class companies that are able to design, construct, and maintain hydropower projects to international standards, and has requested the World Bank’s support in this endeavor In addition

to helping with financing, the Bank brings extensive experience in developing such projects across the world

A number of factors are essential for such projects:

• Careful selection of the site and appropriate engineering design

• Solid initial investigations, especially regarding geological conditions

• Strong and competent implementing agencies

• Continued and substantive consultations with stakeholders

• Early attention to social and environmental aspects of projects, in particular, mitigating the negative social and environmental impacts of the projects

• Appropriate financing and tariff design that are critical to the financial sustainability of projects with long gestation periods Another important goal that is a little sensitive but important from the Indian context is the major tribal and ethnic groups that live along the Himalayan region These groups need to be integrated into the mainstream of Indian socioeconomic growth, without imposing change to their basic social and ethnic cultural structure In the remote areas of the Himalayas where agriculture is limited, hydropower development will probably be the only major driving force for socioeconomic development

of these people

6.08.2 Hydrology and Climate Change

Out of the total precipitation, including snowfall, of around 4000 km3 in the country, the available surface water and replenishable groundwater is estimated to be 1869 km3[5] Due to various constraints of topography and uneven distribu­tion of resources over space and time, it has been estimated that only about 1128 km3, including 690 km3 from surface water and 433 km3 from groundwater resources, can be put to beneficial use Table 4 shows the water resources in the country at a glance

Table 4 Water resources in India Estimated annual precipitation (including snowfall) 4 000 kmAverage annual potential in rivers 1869 km

Mahi Narmada Subemrekha

Tapi BrahminiMahanadiGodavari Krishna PennarCauveryGhaggerMedium Minor

Figure 3 Season-wise rainfall in the country (1.1.2003 to 31.12.2003)

Many Indian rivers are perennial, though few are seasonal Precipitation over a large part of India is concentrated on the monsoon season during June to September and October Precipitation varies from 100 mm in the western parts of Rajasthan that has desert characteristics to over 11 660 mm at Cherrapunji in northeastern Himalaya in the state of Meghalaya Figure 3 shows the season-wise rainfall in the country as documented by the Central Water Commission in 2003 As already discussed, the monsoon season is between June/July to September/October depending on the region of the country

There are 12 major river basins with a catchment area of 20 000 sq km and above The total catchment area of these rivers is 2.53 million sq km, out of which three Himalayan rivers namely Ganges has a catchment area of 861 452 sq km, Brahmaputra and Barak has a catchment area of 236 136 sq km, and Indus up to the Indian border has a catchment area of 321 289 sq km Other major peninsular rivers are Mahanadi, Godawari, and Krishna River basin-wise riverine length is given in Figure 4

The distribution of water resources potential in the country shows that as against the national per capita annual availability of water

of 1905 m3, the average availability in Brahmaputra and Barak is as high as 16 589 m3, while it is as low as 360 m3 in the Sabarmati basin The Brahmaputra and Barak basin with 7.3% of geographical area and 4.2% of population of the country has 31% of the annual water resources The per capita annual availability for the rest of the country, excluding the Brahmaputra and Barak basin, works out to about 1583 m3 Any situation of availability of less than 1000 m3 per capita is considered by international agencies as scarcity conditions Cauvery, Pennar, Sabarmati, east flowing rivers, and west flowing rivers are some of the basins that fall into this category The Himalayas is a large mountain system, influencing the interaction between climate hydrology and environment The total spread of Himalayas between latitude 25° and 35° N and longitude 60° to 105° E covers an area of 844 000 sq km

All the major north and northeast Indian rivers own their origin to thousands of glaciers in the Himalayas There are 9575 glaciers in the Indian Himalayas as per the latest update of the glacier inventory maintained by the Geological Survey of India The Indian part of the Himalayas above elevation 1060 m covers an area of 350 000 sq km out of which 190 000 sq km form a part of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh, and the rest covered by eastern Himalayas Distribution of glaciers is controlled by the altitude orientation, slope, and climate zone in which they fall The Indus basin has 7997 glaciers, the

Figure 4 River basin-wise riverine length

Indus

Ganga

Brahmaputra

Mahi Narmada

Mahanadi Tapi

Godavari

Krishna Sabarmati

Pennar

Cauvery

La dakah and notdraining into indu

West Flowing River of kutch and saurashtra including Luni

West Flowing River from Tapi to Tadri

West Flowing River from Tadri to Kanyakumari East Flowing River Between

Pennar and Kanyakumari

East Flowing River Between Mahanadi and Pennar

Subernarekha

Barak

Minor Rivers draining into Myanmar and Bangladesh

Brahmani and Baitrani

Figure 5 River basins of India

Ganga basin has 968 and the Brahmaputra along with the Teesta has 610 The Brahmaputra through its major tributary Siang is fed

by Tibetian cold desert that keeps its non-monsoon flow quite high

The total area covered by the Indian glaciers is about 18 054 sq km, whereas the volume is about 1219 km3 A basin map of India

is show in Figure 5

In India, several studies have been carried out to determine the change in temperature and rainfall and its association with climate change Investigators using different data lengths and studies have been reported using more than a century of data All such studies have shown warming trends on the country scale An analysis of the seasonal and annual air temperature from 1881 to 1997

by Parthsarthy and Kumar shows that there has been increased trend in mean annual temperature by the rate of 0.57 °C per

100 years The trend and magnitude of global warming over India/Indian subcontinent over the last century has been observed to be broadly consistent with the global trend and magnitude In India, warming is found to be mainly contributed by the postmonsoon and winter season The monsoon temperature does not show a significant trend in any part of the country, except for a negative trend over northwest India This temperature anomaly is given in Figure 6

Figure 6 Temperature anomaly over decades

Even during the twentieth century, an analysis of long-term temperature records (1901–82, 73 stations) has shown an increasing trend of mean annual surface air temperatures over India

It was observed that about 0.4 °C warming has taken place on a country scale during a period of 80 years However, studies do not show an increasing trend over the entire country The temperature shows cooling trends in the northeast and northwest India, that is, along the Himalayas

Studies related to change in rainfall over India have shown that there is no clear trend of increase or decrease in average annual rainfall over the country The examination of trend of annual rainfall over India has indicated that 5 year running mean has fluctuated from normal rainfall within � 1 standard deviation Summer monsoon rainfall anomalies all over India are shown Figure 7

Mirza et al carried out trend and persistent analysis for Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna river basins These have shown that precipitants in the Ganges basin are by and large stable One of the three divisions of the Brahmaputra basin shows decreasing trends, while another shows increasing trend As in coming years a major number of hydroelectric and water resources projects are to

be built in Brahmaputra and Ganges basins This information shall have a qualitative contribution in planning, development, and management of water resource in these basins

Basin-wise flow and storage potential of the major rivers as documented by the Central Water Commission is shown in Figure 8 From the figure it can be seen that when the Brahmaputra and Barak has an average annual flow of 585.6 billion m3, only 11.68 billion m3 of live storage capacity has been developed Similarly for the Ganga that has an annual flow of 525.02

billion m3, only 60.66 billion m3 has been developed up to 2002 Hence, it is obvious that both in the Brahmaputra and the Ganges the immediate requirement of development of storage capacity is there Over and above the requirement of hydroelectric projects they will help in flood control, especially in Brahmaputra, and also removing the future uncertainty of water supply and food security

Development of hydropower in the Himalayas has its own challenges Many of the proposed projects that are going to be built in the coming years will be in the remotest corners and in the hostile geohydrological environment Glacier lake out burst flood, cloud burst flood, land slide dam burst, huge sediment movement generated due to described events and also due to bank failure, infrastructure activity, and so on, are some of the additional hydrological hazards with such projects, during construction and also

in postconstruction stages

6.08.3 Environment Study

As per Ministry of Environment and Forest (MOEF) notification of 1994 under the provision of the Environment Protection Act of

1986, environmental clearance is mandatory for river valley projects, including the multipurpose ones Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification 2006 requires an application seeking prior environmental clearance in all cases shall be made after the identification of prospective site for the project and/or activities to which the application relates, before commencing any construction activity, or preparation of land, at the site by the developer The developer shall furnish, along with the application, a copy of the pre-feasibility project report

The environmental clearance process for new projects will comprise of a maximum of four stages, all of which may not apply to particular cases as set forth in the notification These four stages in sequential order are:

Scoping refers to the process by which the Expert Appraisal Committee determine detailed and comprehensive terms of reference (TOR) addressing all relevant environmental concerns for the preparation of an EIA report in respect of the project or activity for which prior environmental clearance is sought The Expert Appraisal Committee shall determine the TOR on the basis of the information furnished in the prescribed application; TOR proposed by the applicant may or may not be a site visit by a subgroup of the Expert Appraisal Committee or state-level Expert Appraisal Committee

After the EIA and Environment Management Plan has been submitted by the project authority, subsequent stages start Public consultation refers to the process by which the concerns of local affected persons and others who have a plausible stake in the environmental impacts of the project or activity are ascertained with a view to taking into account all the material concerns in the project or activity design as appropriate

The public consultation shall ordinarily have two components comprising of:

1 A public hearing at the site or in its close proximity, district-wise, to be carried out in the manner prescribed, for ascertaining concerns of local affected persons

2 Obtain responses in writing from other concerned persons having a plausible stake in the environmental aspects of the project or activity

The public hearing at, or in close proximity to, the site in all cases shall be conducted by the State Pollution Control Board or the Union Territory Pollution Control Committee concerned in the specified manner and forward the proceedings to the regulatory authority

For obtaining responses in writing from other concerned persons having a plausible stake in the environmental aspects of the project or activity, the concerned regulatory authority shall invite response in writing After completion of the public consultation, the applicant shall address all the environmental concerns expressed during this process

Appraisal means the detailed scrutiny by the Expert Appraisal Committee of the application and other documents like the final EIA report, outcome of the public consultations including public hearing proceedings, submitted by the applicant to the regulatory authority concerned for grant of environmental clearance

It shall be mandatory for the project management to submit half-yearly compliance reports in respect of the stipulated time prior to environmental clearance terms and conditions to the regulatory authority concerned, on 1 June and 1 December of each calendar year

A prior environmental clearance granted for a specific project or activity to an applicant may be transferred during its validity to another legal person entitled to undertake the project or activity by following the laid down procedure

Many factors related to high capital costs, uncertain geology, construction scheduling and construction management, climate change and variable hydrology evolving an uncertain market role, multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral project design, and last but not the least corruption are contributing to the risks Of particular areas are the risks associated with environment management, inclusion, and appropriate sharing of benefits and rents The effects of all the above factors are prominently visible and are major bottlenecks in developing the fragile socioeconomic environment in the Himalayas Like many other countries, one of the biggest challenges in preparing the environment assessment and report is that the TOR the Government issues to guide the study is only general and not site-specific As a result, when the project comes for examination or for the consent on the socioeconomic issue, a specific factor, which otherwise may turn out to be important for that project, has not been studied because of reference issued by the government Such study cannot be site-specific as it would require much more specific and elaborate study in advance for identification of such issues by the government However, to some extent this situation could be avoided by developing site- and region-specific TORs, with each of the agencies involved in the approval process specifying the details that it will require to approve the project

In one case, the catchment area treatment plan for Chamera Hydroelectric Project Stage III in the state of Himachal Pradesh was prepared based on remote sensing data and the silt yield index method, as per the guidelines of MOEF, Government of India, the approving agency for forest, and environment study However, the State Forest Department of Himachal Pradesh wanted several additions in the plan expanding its scope and cost Hence, the cost of the Catchment Area Treatment (CAT) plan went up from US

$3.46 million to US$8.51 million The issue became a point of dispute between the owner of the project and the State Government with MOEF as arbitrating agency Ultimately, it was finalized at a cost of US$6.34 million and considerable time was lost whose hidden cost is not accounted for [7]

In recent years, the Supreme Court of India has taken over the final clearance authority of diversion of forest land for project construction or any other activity It also has put a restriction on diversion of declared wild life area and reserved forest In October

2002, the Supreme Court of India issued an order for Net Present Value (NPV) payable on forest area when directed for non-forest purpose The NPV is charged in addition to the following compensation costs/expenses paid to concerned State Forest Department

by the project developer; in lieu of diversion of forest land:

1 Cost of tree, poles, and so on, falling in the forest area

2 Cost of any other structures constructed within the required forest land

3 Cost of compensatory afforestation for raising plantation over degraded forest area, twice in extent of the required forest land In case degraded forest land is not available, non-forest land is provided by the user agency and transferred to the State Forest Department for raising compensatory afforestation

4 Cost of implementation of CAT plan

The NPV rate as approved by the Supreme Court ranges from US$12 000 to US$19 575 per hectare, which is quite substantive Some

of the projects for which environmental cost has been estimated are given in Table 5

Such high-cost provision for environmental preservation have created problems in two ways:

1 High cost for environmental protection is making the project sometimes unviable

2 There is no structured mechanism with State Government to spend such money in a proper way

To take care of the second issue, an authority to be known as the ‘State Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority’ (State CAMPA) is intended as an instrument to accelerate activities for preservation of natural forests, manage­ment of wildlife, infrastructure development in the sector, and other allied works

The State CAMPA receive monies collected from user agencies toward compensatory afforestation, additional compensatory afforestation, penal compensatory afforestation, NPV, and all other amounts recovered from such agencies

State CAMPA shall seek to promote:

1 Conservation, protection, regeneration, and management of existing natural forests

2 Conservation, protection, and management of wildlife and its habitat within and outside protected areas including the consolidation of the protected areas

Table 5 Environmental cost compared with total project cost

Subansiri lower Teesta lower dam – III Siyom Tipaimukh

Million US$

of total project cost

3 Compensatory afforestation

4 Environmental services

However, this mechanism is yet to be functional and effective

Baseline information for environment assessment and reports should be prepared by government experts, not only to reduce the cost to the industry or preparing the reports but also to increase confidence in their conclusions This will expedite the project implementation process

It is understandable that different agencies of government in both state and central focus on different aspects of a particular project; yet a more holistic approach would enable potential developers to fine-tune their projects from the start However, today the forest and environmental clearance takes more than a year after submission of EIA study and Detail Forest Land Acquisition Proposal by the developer to the MOEF This needs to be expedited

Perhaps a significant improvement could come from creating an independent council that engages all the agencies and the sector’s professional involved in the planning and approval process especially on environment and social issues Such a body would provide a unified presence that would inevitably lead to greater understanding and awareness of the multiple needs that the project must address An independent council with proper authority granted to it would also be able to remove potential obstacles from the beginning and serve as a forum for resolution of the problem that might occur along the way

The 412 MW Rampur Hydropower Project, located in the state of Himachal Pradesh is planned as a cascade plant to India’s largest hydroelectric power plant, the 1500 MW Nathpa Jhakri The World Bank is actively involved in this project A 15 km underground tunnel will carry water emerging from the Nathpa Jhakri plant and bring it downstream to a powerhouse located near Bael village in Kulu district It uses silt-free water from the Nathpa Jhakri plant; the Rampur Project will neither involve the construction of any dam or reservoir or desilting chamber nor will any land be inundated for the scheme The project has funding assistance from the World Bank

The location and design of the Rampur Project has been finalized with the aim of minimizing adverse impacts on local people and their natural environment Some 79 ha spread across eight panchayats (village elected bodies’ jurisdiction) was acquired for the project; of this, 49 ha is forest land (although largely without forest cover) belonging to the Himachal Pradesh state government and some 30 ha is private land belonging to 141 families comprising 167 landowners (Figure 9)

The displaced families who lose their houses will each get a plot of 280 sq m at a site of their choice on which they can build their new houses The families had a choice of opting a developed house or a plot, but all chose to construct their own houses They will

be given monetary help for the construction of 60 sq m of built-up plinth area on which they can construct their new homes, as well

as a monthly rental allowance to help them tide over the period of construction (18 months) in a rented house Each family will also receive a lump sum amount to help them meet the costs of shifting from one house to another

A special package has been worked out for those 35 families who will be left with less than 5 Bighas (1 Bigha = 809 sq m in the State of Himachal Pradesh) of land after the project has acquired their land it needs Apart from the compensation for the acquired land, they will also receive a rehabilitation grant, depending on the amount of land left with them after acquisition In order to help the project-affected persons (PAPs) recover from any loss of livelihood and also in order to help those interested in setting up additional income-generation schemes, the owner will also offer seed money of up to US$640

The company has also undertaken to give preference to suitably qualified candidates from landless families whenever a job opening comes up The contractors working on the civil works of the project have also been directed to give preferential employ­ment to people from the project-affected area while hiring labor All petty contracts on the project up to a value of US$21 275 are also being ear-marked for PAPs About US$255 320 of such contracts have already been awarded to PAPs and more worth US$2 million have been given to people from other parts of Himachal Pradesh Children from project-affected families and areas are being offered merit scholarships to acquire technical and vocational skills and the first batch of 35 students, including four girls, are already receiving training in a variety of trades

Figure 9 Public consultation on the resettlement action plan

Figure 10 A footpath to village Bakhan constructed under the project’s community infrastructure program

The villages impacted by the project have also been ear-marked for special development assistance (Figure 10)

The owner has set aside US$2.66 million to be invested over a period of 5 years in infrastructure and development schemes for these villages Here again, the people have led the local area development exercise, choosing the infrastructure schemes they would like to see implemented in their villages From street-lighting, through improved water supply to footpaths and footbridges, the villagers have identified their particular needs that are being funded by the scheme The company also runs a mobile health van that travels round the project-affected villages taking basic healthcare to the doorstep of people living in remote areas and the project is also setting up a dispensary at the village, near the site of the proposed powerhouse for the Rampur Project

The owner, who as the developer of the already operational Nathpa Jhakri Project has a long-standing relationship with the region, is also helping improve the quality of people’s lives beyond the project-affected villages The Company is helping finance the renovation of the bus stand at Rampur town; it is also helping build several access roads and bridges and helping improve infrastructure in local schools

Benefits to Himachal Pradesh is apart from the 12% free power it receives as royalty (worth approximately US$13 million), the host state of Himachal Pradesh will also get an additional 30% of power generated at Rampur Project (109 MW) at cost; this is equivalent to its share of equity percentage in the project And, as part owner of the developing agency, developing the Rampur Project, Himachal Pradesh will also receive dividends on its investment in the project and also be entitled to a share in the remainder

of the power generated from the project

The state also stands to gain in terms of job creation and income generation The Rampur Project has already generated some

2500 man-months of work for the people of Himachal Pradesh over the past 1 year, and some US$2.28 million of petty contracts on the project have already gone to people belonging to the state So far 145 members of the families affected by the project were offered work under contractors

6.08.4 Reservoir and Downstream Flow

The major projects in the Himalayas are being conceived as classical run-of-the-river (ROR) schemes Even some of the large projects that are proposed to have considerable storage and can be termed as storage projects are also ROR projects

For example, some large projects investigated/under construction over river Brahmaputra are shown in Table 6

Though the projects have substantive storage, they have all been designed as ROR projects to maximize the benefit of the power generation Hence, the role of the storage for such big hydroelectric projects is limited from the point of view of power generation However, their role to mitigate fluctuation in power generation due to climate change and for flood control, water supply,

Table 6 Gross storage, energy, and MW of some major projects

Gross head Energy Gross storage

downstream environmental flow, and so on, is quite important All the projects listed in the table and many such projects that are being conceived and designed over the major rivers with a very high monsoon flow are being conceived as storage with the high head generated by constructing dams leading to longer reservoirs but relatively narrow and deep While conceiving such projects it is being ensured that such reservoir remains in the river channel and in the river flowing valley and does not develop a wide reservoir area submerging agricultural land, household, and reserved forests As a result, such a reservoir is having a benign effect on the population and environment as already shown in Figure 2 For such projects, the powerhouse is almost at the tow of the dam or a few hundred meters downstream if the powerhouse is underground Hence, the requirement of dedicated environmental flow during the monsoon period is not a necessity

However, for such Himalayan rivers the daily average flow goes down to 20–30% in the dry season compared to the monsoon season During this period if the powerhouse is conceived to generate peak power near to its full capacity for a few hours in a day, then it is required to be done by storing the water and releasing by a few hours in a day when it is generating the maximum In such cases, there is a substantive fluctuation in downstream flow in two ways:

1 By stopping the flow during the longer period of the day

2 Releasing high/very high discharge compared to daily dry flow for limited hour

In such cases, optimized generation planning during the dry season can take care of the necessity for environmental flow; however, the quantum and quantity requirement of such a flow requires that they be studied in detail for the dry season period Premonsoon, monsoon, and postmonsoon periods are not really affected by such storage and dam-toe powerhouses as far as downstream environmental flow are concerned

The majority of the storage projects being constructed in the Himalayas are in the downstream reach, almost to the foothill where the river carries very high discharge and has a relatively flat slope However, GHG emissions from such a reservoir are likely to

be little due to reasons that they are shallow and also located in a temperate/cool weather region

There is considerable debate at present on how GHG emissions from reservoirs should be determined

Draft guidelines of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change set up potential methodologies based on decay of flooded vegetation, discounted gross carbon dioxide emissions, and undiscounted gross methane emissions All potential methodologies overestimate the anthropogenic contribution of hydropower reservoirs

Using a completely different approach, the Executive Board of the Clean Development Mechanism set qualification parameters for hydropower in March 2006, based entirely on the capacity density of a hydropower scheme:

1 Where the scheme has a density of less than 4 Watts installed capacity per square meter of reservoir, it is deemed to not qualify

2 Where the scheme has a density of greater than 10 Watts m−2 of reservoir, it is deemed to qualify

In between 4 and 10 Watts m−2 of reservoir, it is given a default value of 90 tonnes GWh−1

This method is even considered unsatisfactory and effectively excludes most storage hydro from the Clean Development Mechanism

However, following this criteria a few of the reservoirs for hydropower projects in Himalaya capacity density have been calculated as given below (Table 7) It can be seen that all of them satisfy the criteria, except Tehri Multipurpose

The other kind of hydroelectric development in the Himalayas and specially in the upper reaches of the Himalayas where the discharge is not very high but the river is quite steep is conceived by building some diversion structure with very little storage and the generating head by constructing tunnel/channel of considerable length ranging from 4 to 5 km to even 20 km and then mainly underground powerhouse and in some cases surface powerhouse In such projects design flow for full capacity of generation will be around 50–75% of the regular monsoon flow; hence, the downstream flow during the monsoon period is not really much affected

as 25–50% of flow continues in the river up to the powerhouse Further downstream full flow is revived However, during

Table 7 Capacity density of some hydropower stations in Himalaya

Capacity Submergence area Capacity density in watt sq m−1

non-monsoon months if the diversion structure is holding back the daily flow for maximizing the power generation, then the problem is again seen in two ways:

1 During this period in between diversion structure and the powerhouse throughout the day flow is very little, that is, for a long stretch of river

2 The problem is also in fluctuation of flow from powerhouse to downstream A careful evaluation of requirement of environ­mental flow taking into account regenerated flow, flow coming from other streams and rivulets in this reach, and different aspects of environmental requirement required to be accessed and release of downstream flow from the diversion structure, become important factors

For design and engineering of such projects, a more exhaustive study is required for environmental flow In many of the cases, such areas are not accessible due to its isolated location, steep mountains, deep forests, and so on Information for such components are collected more by indirect techniques and sometimes from regional and local information available in macroscale All these factors increase the uncertainty of downstream flow study

6.08.5 Rehabilitation and Resettlement

In February 2004, the Ministry of Rural Development adopted a National Policy on Resettlement and Rehabilitation It was stated in the preamble that there is a need to minimize large-scale displacement and to handle the issues related to resettlement and rehabilitation with utmost care The intention of the policy is “to impart greater flexibility for interaction and negotiation so that the resultant package gains all round acceptability in the shape of a workable instrument providing satisfaction to all stakeholders/ requiring bodies”

Then again the Ministry came up with a new National Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy that came into operation on the

31 October 2007 Two major points mentioned in the objectives are:

1 To provide a better standard of living, making concerted efforts for providing sustainable income to the effected families

2 To integrate rehabilitation concerns into development planning and implementation process

Following are some important provisions:

1 The Act shall apply to the rehabilitation and resettlement of persons affected by acquisition under the Land Acquisition Act,

1894

2 The definition of the affected family also quite exists Besides the land holder and tenants and lessees of the acquired land, it includes any agricultural or nonagricultural laborer, landless person (not having homestead land, agricultural land, or either homestead or agricultural land), rural artisan, self-employed person; who has been residing or engaged in any trade, business or occupation or vocation continuously for a period of not less than 5 years in the affected area proceeding the date of declaration of the affected area, and who has been deprived of earning his livelihood or alienated wholly or substantially from the main source

of his trade, business, occupation, or vocation because of the acquisition of land in the affected area or being involuntarily displaced for any other reasons

3 A provision is made in the amending bill to the Land Acquisition Act to ensure that a social impact assessment shall be carried out in cases involving the physical displacement of 400 or more families in plains or 200 or more families in tribal or hilly areas

4 The bill provides that the social impact assessment clearance shall be granted in such manner and within such time as may be prescribed It appears that the clearance is to be given by the expert group and that it can be conditional However, there is no provision that is should be published and made available to the public

5 It is provided that in case of projects displacing 400 or more families in plains and 200 or more in tribal or hilly regions, the state government shall appoint in respect of that project, an officer for formulation, execution, and monitoring of the R&R Plan

6 Apart from the notifications under the Land Acquisition Act, the appropriate government is to issue a notification declaring affected areas where displacement affects 400 or more families, and so on

7 The developer shall contribute to the socioeconomic development of such geographic area on the periphery of the project site as may be defined by the appropriate government, and for this it shall earmark a percentage of its net profits or in case no profits are declared in a particular year such minimum alternative amount determined by the appropriate government in consultation with the requiring body

8 For such project displacing 400 or more families in plains and 200 or more in the Himalayas, there shall be a committee called the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Committee to monitor and review the progress of the implementation of the rehabilitation scheme and to carry out postimplementation social audits

However, it is more important how and what way such policy is getting implemented The political and administrative will to implement such policy in letter and spirit and also continuous course correction of such implementation will be the cornerstone of success of large-scale hydropower development