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JSW Energy's Himachal hydro plants unaffected by recent heavy rains
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SME Times News Bureau | 17 Oct, 2018
The recent heavy rains in Himachal Pradesh and an abnormal rise in the
Satluj river's silt levels -- forcing the temporary closure of major
hydro projects -- has, however, not affected operations at both of JSW
Energy's hydro plants in the state, company officials said.
The
Jindal group subsidiary JSW Energy operates the 1,000 MW Karcham Wangtoo
hydroelectric project and the 300 MW Baspa-II plant further upstream in
Kinnaur district, which the company had acquired from Jaiprakash Power
Ventures for Rs 9,700 crore three years ago.
In August, IANS had
reported the temporary shutdown of the 1,500 MW Nathpa Jhakri plant and
the 412 MW Rampur hydel project after confirming with officials of the
state-run Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd.
"Both Karcham Wangtoo and
Baspa are snow-fed plants with most of the dam built underground, so we
were not affected by the heavy rains," JSW Chief Operating Officer
(Energy Business) Sharad Mahendra told visiting reporters here, with the
surrounding peaks laced with the season's first snowfall that had
occurred overnight.
The plants currently supply Punjab,
Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, besides Himachal Pradesh, at an
average tariff of Rs 4.39 per unit under long-term power purchase
agreements (PPAs) with these states, Mahendra said.
Himachal
government is supplied 12 per cent of the total generation free of cost,
according to an agreement with the state government. Earlier this
year, JSW secured a PPA of 200 MW with the Punjab State Power Corp to be
supplied from the Himachal hydro plants. With this, the company's
consolidated long-term PPA proportion has currently risen to around 74
per cent.
The largest hydropower plant in the private sector,
Karcham Wangtoo is a run-of-the-river project on the Satluj, while the
Baspa plant is named after the upstream tributary on which it stands.
In
purchasing these plants from the debt-ridden Jaypee Group, JSW Energy
is looking to acquire stressed hydro projects to increase its green
energy portfolio, the COO said.
"We want to increase our hydro
power portfolio and we are definitely looking at various opportunities
including stressed hydro projects at present," he said. "We are
evaluating a few of them in addition to reviving our own 240-MW Kutehr
project."
The Kutehr plant in Chamba district has been stalled
since 2011. "Himachal Pradesh has come out with a hydro policy, which is
enabling us to revive the project. We are hopeful of signing the
long-term PPA with the Haryana government very soon," Mahendra said.
Karcham
Wangtoo is a 88 metre-high concrete gravity dam, 53 metres of which is
below the riverbed level. Boasting of the largest underground desilting
complex in India, the dam has four sedimentation chambers for excluding
particles, and tunnels for mandatory release of water back into Satluj
river. The project comprises of over 44 km of tunneling in the
mountains.
"Unlike solar, hydro is not just cheaper, but the
power can be made available anytime. Though there is no substitute to
thermal power, which is the primary source, hydro is a better, cleaner
and a financially lucrative option," Mahendra said.
Yet, he said, banks are currently reluctant to fund large hydro projects.
"The
lenders are also now not looking towards the power sector in a positive
way in terms of lending so it will not be easy to get the funding
without long-term PPAs," he said.
Declaring all hydropower as
renewable power and mandating the meeting of current renewable purchase
obligations (RPOs) also through hydro would give a big boost to the
sector, the official said.
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