The Uttarakhand government has notified a policy for micro and mini hydro power projects, in which it has involved local panchayats with a slew of incentives.
The state has an estimated potential of 3,000 megawatts (Mw), largely untapped as far as micro and mini hydel projects are concerned. Only 170 Mw of small hydro projects have been installed.
"Our main aim is to harness the potential of water streams and rivulets to help meet the state's goal of rural development, electrification, revenue generation and livelihood development," said A K Tyagi, chief project officer (CPO) of the Uttarakhand Energy Development Agency (UREDA). Tyagi was speaking on the sidelines of an international conference on hydropower for the sustainable development here.
Under the new policy, the first priority will be given to gram panchayat within whose area the complete proposed project site is located, said Tyagi.
For the development of the hydel projects, the government has allowed the panchayats to take the help of companies by floating special purpose vehicles (SPVs) through bidding process. The bidder who is willing to offer the maximum percentage of revenue share to the eligible panchayat would be chosen as SPV partner to execute the project.
The policy has been broadly classified into two parts - one deals with the hydel projects having capacity up to 100 kilowatts (kw) and another deals with the projects having capacity above 100 kw and up to two Mw.
Among the various incentives, the government is offering developer to take the benefits of the central financial assistance according to the standing guidelines of the Union ministry of new and renewable energy. The developers could also avail the social venture capital fund. No royalty will be charged on these projects. The government would also not levy any entry tax on power generation/transmission equipment and various building materials used for the projects.
Significantly, the micro and mini hydro projects in the state would be treated as industry and all the benefits declared by the state government from time to time will be applicable to these projects.
WHAT'S NEW
MAJOR FEATURES
- Main thrust would be on gram panchayats
- Panchayats are allowed to take the help of companies by floating SPVs through bidding process
- The policy has been broadly classified into two parts - one deals with projects having up to 100 kw and another with projects between 100 kw and 2 Mw
- Developer can take the benefits of central financial assistance
- They could also avail the social venture capital fund
- No royalty will be charged on these projects
- The government would also not levy any entry tax on power generation/transmission equipment and various building materials used for the projects
