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THE UNION POWER Ministry has for some time been talking of a "fast track" process for hydro-power projects and the exhortation by the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, to the States to speed up procedures for setting up hydel projects is aimed at getting the States to act faster. Hydel power projects have got bogged down in environmental, rehabilitation and resettlement issues, leading to time and cost overruns. Besides, the projects get delayed due to land acquisition hurdles, with the departments of the State governments and the Centre acting, quite often, at cross purposes. The delays in getting clearances are among the reasons that hydel power has not been as attractive to the private sector as thermal power generation. Of course, a number of hydel projects — mini and micro ones — have taken off or are in the process of becoming operational with private sector participation. But if the full hydel potential is to be realised, the governments at the Centre and in the States have to act in unison. A pre-requisite for this is a speedier approval process.

The States also need to resolve all contentious inter-State issues that result in hydel projects getting delayed. For instance, a proposal to generate about 1,000 MW of power from the Cauvery by having four stations — two each in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu — has been languishing for a few years now as the two States continue to fight over sharing of the river waters. Significantly, both the States are power-starved and continue to buy high-cost power from independent power producers as well as from outside the region.

It is because of the delays in getting clearances and acquiring land that the full hydel potential has not yet been realised. Against an ideal thermal-hydro mix of 60:40, hydel power accounts for just 25 per cent of the total installed capacity of 107,972 MW. The vast potential remains untapped. It is here that the Centre's proposal to put a timeframe for preparing Environment Impact Assessment and Environment Management Plan should be welcomed. The National Hydroelectric Power Corporation has shown that projects can indeed be completed on time and even before the targeted date provided the clearances are not delayed. This will also ensure that private participation in hydel projects increases. At present, private participation in the hydel sector is restricted to a few projects of small capacity, mainly in the northern region while the Power Ministry and the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources have identified at least 3,300 potential sites with an aggregate capacity of 2,800 MW for putting up mini and micro hydel projects.

In addition to being reliable and a cheaper source of power, hydro projects are ideal for meeting the variable and peaking power requirements. However, if the hydro-power sector is to really take off, the Government should encourage small and mini projects rather than those with large dams that inevitably draw protests from environmentalists and problems over resettlement and rehabilitation, resulting in the projects never taking off at all.

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