Hydro Electric Power Plants

Uganda has invited international bids for a contract to build a hydropower plant, expected to produce up to 700 megawatts (MW) and estimated to cost about $900 million, the energy ministry said on Wednesday.

The Karuma falls hydropower project had been scheduled to come online this year but was delayed after a European contractor pulled out.

“The project includes construction of a 600-700MW hydropower facility with an underground power station housing five turbines,” the ministry said in an advertisement in local newspapers.

East Africa’s third-largest economy has enjoyed a decade of strong growth on the back of its service, construction and retail sectors, bolstered by stable economic policies.

But insufficient and expensive power has long stymied expansion of its manufacturing sector.

The plant will be built on the River Nile starting in 2011, the ministry said.

“Ordinarily one megawatt should cost $1 million, but of course there are other little costs that come in. So for the Karuma dam, which will be about 700MW, we’re estimating it will cost about $900 million,” Energy Minister Hilary Onek told Reuters.

The work involved includes planning and engineering, civil construction including supply of equipment and materials and installation of hydro-mechanical and electro-mechanical equipment among others.

The Ugandan government intends to develop the plant as a public-private partnership project.

The state-run Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) says Uganda’s electricity supply will grow by 8.6 percent in 2010 on the back of expanding hydropower generation and a steady inflow of investment capital.

Another 33 MW are forecast to be injected to the grid this year, pushing the national electricity peak output to 413 MW from 380.3 MW in 2009.

In the last 30 years, the proportion of hydroelectric capacity in the Indian power system has considerably reduced.  It has dropped from about 46% in 1970 to 40% in 1980, 29% in 1990 and now 25% in 2003.  In spite of the Hydroelectric potential, which is now estimated to be of the order of 150,000 MW, the exploitation has been of the order of 27,000 MW.  Some of the important reasons for decline in the Hydroelectric proportion in the total capacity over the last 30 years are as follows:

a) Indian power supply industry has always experienced the situation of shortages both in energy and peaking requirements. To tide over the shortage in shortest possible time, more dependence was placed on sources of power generation with shorter gestation period.  Obviously this short-term approach rather than a long-term perspective led to this problem.

b) With abundant coal reserves in the country, large capacity additions through coal based pithead power stations during the eighties and nineties increased the thermal proportion.

c) Emergence of gas based combined cycle power stations based on indigenous natural  gas with gestation period of 2-2 ½ years also received priority in response to the anxiety to create capacity addition in shortest possible time.

d) Nuclear power stations have also emerged as reliable modes of thermal generation.

In spite of best efforts at the stage of planning and formulating projects in the hydro segment, a number of large projects got into long gestation period of construction on account of various reasons, namely environmental issues, rehabilitation & resettlement (R&R) problems, gap between investigations and field realities, etc.  We do have a number of successful stories on the hydroelectric projects but we also have large projects which have taken several years to get completed.

Development of Hydroelectric projects has thrown up a number of important challenges, the world over and particularly in Indian context.  Over a period of time, experiences have been acquired and India is responding to these challenges in the following manner.

a) Impact on Environment:

Hydroelectric projects do create environmental issues emanating from sub-mergence of large areas also involving forest.  The Govt. of India has a comprehensive legislation on environmental issues and based on this legislation, there are well laid down principles and guidelines.  Environment Impact Assessment studies when properly carried out throw up the tasks to be undertaken by the project development agencies.  Over a period of time, both the processes of

a) studies and  preparation of the plans to mitigate environmental impact and

b) procedure of clearances from the authorities, have been streamlined.

Process of improvement on these areas continues to see as to how best the adverse environmental impacts are mitigated and also the procedure does not lead to delays.  It needs to be ensured that if the forest area is affected, sufficient amount of forest is created.  Ministry of Environment & Forest is working on a plan to create Forest Bank which would entail creation of huge afforestation with funding from project development agencies in advance so that this issue could be adequately responded.   The mechanism of compensatory afforestation through the Forest Bank will enable quicker clearances of projects.

b)Rehabilitation & Resettlement (R&R)

Rehabilitation & Resettlement (R&R) of Project Affected People (PAP) is another major issue affecting the smooth execution of Hydroelectric projects particularly where in submergence areas, the number of project affected people are large.  Experience of last several years has brought about sufficient amount of understanding on the subject. The expectations of people, local authorities and project development agencies are being synthesised so that there is greater degree of acceptability of the system of R&R.

Govt. of India is contemplating a national policy on R&R for Project Affected People.  In the meantime, Ministry of Power of Govt. of India and its public sector undertakings are coordinating their efforts with the State Govts. so that R&R issues are adequately addressed and project implementation is smooth.  In cases, where large projects are involved, specific monitoring mechanism has been put in place at senior most level in the Govt. so that proper implementation of R&R plans by project agencies is done in letter and spirit.

With the above experiences now, it appears that in future, the concerned project development agencies would evolve proper plans and programmes  well in advance so that the mitigatory measures are adequate and project implementation is smooth.

c) Safety measures

Another issue of concern is in relation to safety of dams.  Here again, experiences from some of the very large projects of the country have led to considerable amount of knowledge base and it is expected that in future projects, studies and findings on dam safety could provide much higher degree of confidence.  Some of the Indian institutions have equipped themselves both with hardware and software to properly address these concerns. Where required, project development agencies do depend on expertise available anywhere in the world for in depth studies and guidance.

d) Clearances

In view of complexity in development of Hydroelectric projects, particularly large ones, emanating from dam height, submergence, ramification of submergence, dam safety, drinking water schemes, irrigation, infrastructure etc., the process of clearances obviously gets linked with multiple agencies and authorities. Short cuts could create problems. Inordinate delays could entail huge cost and therefore unaffordable tariff.  Harmonious balance has, therefore, to be struck.  Here again, experience of last many decades has brought about a reasonable consensus on how to address this situation.  The process of improvement on this front also continues.  Procedures have been streamlined, and they would continue to be streamlined, to see that project development process, prior to commencement of main plant construction, by way of permission and clearances is made faster.  Ministry of Environment and Forest, Ministry of Power and other authorities continue to search for better solutions.

e)  Bankable Detailed Project Reports (DPR)

Reliability of detailed project report needs to be enhanced.  There are a number of examples in Indian Hydro project development context of large variations from estimated costs primarily on account of differences between the outcomes of investigations and ground realities. Both in respect of hydrology and geology, the quality of studies, investigations, analysis and findings need substantial improvement.  The silver line is that there are recent examples of project development where variations are within limits.  Experience gained here again must lead to qualitatively better DPR’s and estimates and project could be completed without cost over runs, at least  with avoidance of such cost increases which are on account of variation in estimates germane to inadequacies in investigations.

f)  Project Management

Construction time is another area of concern, which needs to be compressed.  Large projects have taken inordinately long time.  There are two major aspects which could make a difference – one is relating to construction management techniques starting from planning to monitoring and another relates to construction technology.  Here again, there are recent examples of making substantial improvement on both the fronts. Some of the projects which have been sanctioned in the recent months are being targetted to be completed within 4-5 years.

Based on the benchmarks which have been established, the techniques  and technologies would be further improved. Choice of technology will have to be given serious consideration.  For the next few years, project development agencies are being advised to target 4 years  for completion of small projects, 4 ½ years for medium size projects and 5 years for large projects.  These schedules are significant improvement over the past performance.  After these results are achieved, the  norms would be further improved.

g) Comminucating the benefits of Hydro Power

Communication with press, media and people at large to reduce the communication gaps on merits of hydro-projects and on mitigatory measures is another area of challenge which is being addressed.  This also needs to be taken up appropriately at global level.

The main features of the Government of India policy on hydro power development are as follows:

• Additional budgetary financial support for ongoing and new hydro projects under Central Public Sector Undertakings.
• Basin-wise development of hydro potential – comprehensive Ranking studies for 399 schemes.
• Advance action for capacity addition – 10 year ahead of execution
• Emphasis on quality of survey & investigations
• Resolution of inter-state issues on sharing of water and power.
• Renovation, Modernization & Uprating of existing hydro stations
• Promoting small and mini hydel projects – 25 MW and below now fall into category of “non conventional” qualifying for benefits.
• Simplified procedures for clearances by Central Electricity Authority; Electricity Act 2003 further liberalises this.
• Rationalization of hydro tariff by allowing premium on sale rate during peak period
• Realistic estimates of completion cost considering new development on geological front during execution.
• Promoting hydel projects in joint venture
• Selection of developer through MOU/Bidding route
• Govt. support for land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation, catchment area development, etc.
• Some of the measures announced by; Govt. of India have already been introduced which include simplified procedures for transfer of techno-economic clearances, streamlining of clearance process and introduction of three-stage clearance approach for development of hydro projects in Central Sector/Joint Ventures, etc.
• The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission has approved 5% hydro development surcharge on annual fixed charges for central hydro power generation.

Use of the standards is wholly voluntary at the moment. The existence of a standard does not imply that there are no other ways to produce, test, measure, purchase, market or provide goods and services related to the scope of the standard. Furthermore, the viewpoint expressed at the time a standard is approved and issued is subject to changes, which are necessitated by developments in the state of the art or considered desirable on the basis of the experience of the users of the standard. Any Standard should be subjected to review at least once every five years leading to either revision or reaffirmation.

It is usually expected that all equipment should be supplied and works should be executed as per standards. Their specifications should conform to the latest editions of applicable standards together with any amendment(s) to date. The provisions of State and local statutes, rules and codes as applicable need to be adhered to.

There is a series of standards, guidelines and manuals available in India issued by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), Rural Electrification Corporation Ltd (REC), Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Central Board of Irrigation & Power (CBIP), International Electro-technical Commission (IEC), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and others.

But most of them were prepared keeping in view the large water/ hydropower projects. Small hydropower is to be made cost effective and a long term investment opportunity, while ensuring quality and reliability of the power station, and accordingly there is an urgent need to develop and make available the standards and guidelines specifically meant for SHP plants.

Standard equipment, coupled with uniform work and construction practices, can bring about significant economy and reliability and increase the pace of small hydropower development. Standardization of design, manufacture, and construction helps reduction in inventory. Standardization also leads to safer and better operation and easier maintenance. In India, standardized equipment and construction practices for project works are being adopted due to the participation and adoption by the government as well as private users.

However, such a practice for the generating equipment and civil works for small hydropower projects may be discouraged by the non-availability of specific standards. Some standards for hydropower are available, but these have been derived from those meant for large water resource development and do not address the specific needs and parameters of small hydropower projects. Standards required specifically for SHP development are proposed here.

Private sector is getting involved in a big way to develop small hydropower. Minimal staff is the requirement of the day. Extensive use of numerical simulation of the performance of hydraulic machinery is remarkable these days, but shortage of specialists and hydropow er engineers is appearing as a bottleneck.

Subcontractors with no particular expertise are being used, sometimes for parts of the design too. Traditional specialized equipment suppliers are being replaced by inexperienced (new) suppliers. Standards and guides on SHP can alleviate some of the problems, which this combination of new technological needs and scarcity of experts is creating. Such standards / guides on SHP must address the environmental concerns as well. New staff, whose number will have to grow again in the light of 50,000 MW hydro initiative, are to rely upon up-to-date standards, guidelines and technical reports [Report, 2005].