Small Hydro Power An Environmentally Benign and Sustainable

Source of Power
1. Background
Even though India has a history of over one hundred years in the development and
utilisation of small hydro power, it has so far a total of only 22, 000 MW of hydro power
against an estimated potential of 90,000 MW and out of that the share of the small hydro
is hardly 500 MW.
At a time when India and other developing countries urgently need a
comprehensive sustainable development strategy in all sectors of economy, especially in
the power sector, the promotion and popularisation of Small Hydro Power systems
deserve the highest priority in policy considerations, as it is recognised throughout the
world that small hydro power development is most econo-ecologically sustainable,
operationally flexible (including opportunity for peoples participation in its total life cycle
process), sustainable for flexible peak load support to local grid systems as well as for
independent and stand alone applications in isolated remote areas. It is also realised in
many parts of the world where small hydro power is developed and integrated with
isolated and inaccessible socio-economic areas/systems, that the total multiplier and
value added effects, including employment generation and poverty alleviation, is very high
and that they are becoming effective catalysts in promoting sustainable development.
Honorable Prime Minister of India has recently announced a target to achieve a
share of renewable energy of 10% of the installed capacity by 2010. This can only be
achieved through extensive and speedy utilisation of the densest source of renewable
energy, viz. Small Hydro Power. India has an estimated potential of 15,000 MW of SHP
resources (upto 25 MW capacity), spread throughout the country in its hilly remote rural
areas. Of the more than 80,000 unelectrified villages in India, 18,344 are considered to
be unelectrifiable with grid extensions. Local development of resources as through SHP
assumes importance in this context. Yet another problem is that of the extent of
penetration of electricity in the villages which are already electrified according to our
norms. Development level of per capita energy is yet to reach many villages.
Considering the potential of SHP to transform the villages through supply of abundant and
steady supply of locally produced electricity, as in China, is yet another reason to have a
fresh look at the barriers and how to circumvent them, in relation to expansion of
electrification through SHP resources in our country.
2. Experiences elsewhere
Consequent to the establishment of P. R. China in 1949, approximately 24000 MW
of SHP capacity has been constructed and out of this, one third of the total is built up of
station capacity below 500 kW. The economic SHP resource potential of China is
estimated to exceed 70 GW. This is especially significant because China has 17% of

earths hydropower resource and has installed around half of Worlds SHP installed
capacity.
The Chinese Govt. has, since 1985, embarked upon a scheme of establishing
rural electrification counties through small hydel power with the reliable, proven and cost
effective technology and more than 600 counties have been declared as RECs with
attendant rural industrialisation and economic growth in such counties. These RECs
address problems related to development by exploiting locally available energy forms like
the SHPs, to stimulate rural self-reliance. Many of the rural areas of China have rich SHP
resources and their present plan is to install between 1500 MW to 2000 MW of SHP
every year. By the end of 1999, China is understood to have installed more than 45000
SHP stations with total installed capacity of 24000 MW and an annual generation capacity
of 830 GWh. The entire equipment required for this are manufactured within the country,
according to a standardised & series production, bringing down the cost and delivery
time among other benefits, through more than 100 manufacturing units in that country.
Many countries in the Europe have experience in Small Hydro Power development
for over a Century and though their achievements in terms of numbers and installed
capacity are not so spectacular as that of China, in development of machines,
instrumentation and control system, some of the countries in Europe have made excellent
initiatives, which have also lessons for India to learn.
3. Technology
Hydropower is a very clean source of energy. It does not consume but only uses
the water, after use it is available for other purposes. The use of hydropower can make a
contribution to savings on exhaustible energy sources. Each 600 kWh of electricity
generated with a hydro plant is equivalent to 1 barrel of oil (assuming an efficiency of 38
% for the conversion of oil into electricity).

The main advantages of hydropower are:

power is usually continuously available on demand,
given a reasonable head, it is a concentrated energy source,
the energy available is predictable,
no fuel and limited maintenance are required, so running costs are low (compared
with diesel power) and in many cases imports are displaced to the benefit of the
local economy,
it is a long-lasting and robust technology; systems can last for 50 years or more
without major new investments.

Small hydropower involves only limited investment, shorter gestation periods,

simple civil works, but sturdy machines, which can be easily, maintained at local level with
minimum operation and maintenance expenses. These small schemes can even be
thought of as an economical proposition on long term outlook, which can sustain on its

own by utilising the water which otherwise will be wasted as far as the utilisation of its
power potential is considered.
SHP is site specific which means that features of the project have to be decided
based on the local site conditions. The size of the scheme is proportional to the product of
the head and discharge available at the particular site. For the same installed capacity,
there can be different types and sizes of turbines depending upon the water availability
and the head. This means that for low heads, the turbines have to be bigger in size in
order to accommodate the larger discharges when compared to a plant of equal capacity
with high head with smaller turbines. Low head SHPs are normally associated with
irrigation head works or canals. Small hydro concept should not be thought of as a
miniature version of large hydroelectric schemes, but treated as an entity having an
identity of its own.
4. Initiatives from Govt of Kerala
In order to develop a renewable economic, non-polluting, inflation free and
environmentally benign source of energy with short gestation period, great emphasis is
placed by the State on quick development of micro, mini and small hydropower (SHP)
resources, which are comparatively abundant in Kerala. Small and mini hydel potential
can provide a solution for the energy problems in remote and hilly areas where extension
of grid system is comparatively uneconomical. The State is also implementing the
decentralised planning exercise in the development sector with peoples participation
catalysed through the three tier Panchayath Raj system. Small hydro schemes require
certain approvals for implementation besides assistance from State Government and
Central Government. They also attract certain concessions and subsidies.
The Energy Management Centre Kerala, since its inception under the Department
of Power, Government of Kerala in 1996 has been making concerted efforts in promoting
the development of the rich potential of SHP in the State. Unlike in the Himalayan region,
the rivers in the south and especially of Kerala, due to the peculiar geographical lay of the
land even after receiving an annual average rainfall of 300 cm, has most of its rivers (41
west flowing and 3 east flowing) and their innumerous tributaries in the category of
seasonal flow streams, with substantial flows maintained only for a period of 6 to 10
months.
Energy Management Centre, Kerala (EMC) has been trying to transfer the globally
acclaimed SHP practice of the Peoples Republic of China which has as its prime feature,
peoples participation through the counties or local governments to the State. With the
active intermediary role of EMC, the KSEB tied up with the UNIDO sponsored
International Network on Small Hydro (IN-SHP) for the implementation of 18 SHP
projects of total capacity 107 MW. EMC has also initiated propagation as well as
implementation of mini/micro hydel through various Local Bodies. Recently in April 2003 A
regional Centre of UNIDO for Development of Small Hydro Power was set up in EMC.

EMC took up and completed the Technical Consultancy assignment for the finalisation of
detailed project report (DPR) for a lot of micro/mini/small hydel projects for
Grama/Block/District Panchayath Public Sector Undertakings and various other bodies for
Social development like AHADS. EMC also acted as the technical secretariat for the
Single Window Clearance Committee in getting clearance for the 50 kW Kallar Micro
Hydel Scheme, implemented by Idukki District Panchayath.
A preliminary estimation of SHP resources in Kerala by the EMC has revealed that
about 2000 MU per annum through an installed capacity of up to 600 MW in over 300
sites, plus several hundreds of locally servable micros of a few kW capacity each could
contribute substantially to the development scenario of Kerala and hence should not be
dismissed as of no relevance due to limitation of seasonality.

Er. A N Dinesh Kumar, M.Tech

Energy Technologist
Small Hydel Projects Division
Energy Management Centre-Kerala
Karamana PO, Trivandrum-2