Enabling The Green Energy Mission: New Hydro Policy To Help Meet Renewables Target

The union government’s decision to put large hydroelectric projects within the ambit of renewable energy will help the sector but will also go a long way in meeting the set targets in the inexhaustible energy field, reports The Hindu.

The Union Cabinet, earlier this month, had approved a new hydroelectric policy, which among other things, re-classified the hydro projects as renewable energy. Prior to the policy, only small hydro projects with capacity less than 25 megawatt (MW) were classified as renewable energy, while the large hydro projects were treated as a separate energy source.

According to the report, the installed capacity of India’s renewable energy sector is 75,055.92 MW as of February 2019, as per the data of the Central Electricity Authority. The energy produced by the renewable sources reportedly constitute 21.4 per cent of the total energy generated. Rest of the energy is generated from the thermal, nuclear and large hydro projects.

The inclusion of large hydro projects in renewable energy will change the energy mix drastically as it would increase the inexhaustible energy capacity to 1,20,455.14 MW or 34.4 per cent of the power generated.

As per the report, some analysts say that the move will help in ramping up the hydro power production, which has been stagnated in last few years. Besides, the hydro power also provides grid stability which a renewable sources like wind and solar do not.

Other analysts, however, said that the move is aimed at achieving the renewable energy target that the government has set for itself.