The Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan may have initiated a big debate over the future of nuclear power in the world. But experts said the neglected hydropower sector is still India’s best bet for safe and clean energy.
Citing the example of Bhutan, China and several other countries which have taken a lead in harnessing hydropower from water, they said India must also exploit its full potential and dismissed as “unfounded” claims made by environmentalists and Hindu religious leaders that hydel projects cause pollution in rivers.
They asserted that hydropower was the cheapest energy available in the country as compared to coal, nuclear and other renewable energy resources. “We can only get clean and safe energy through hydropower. Be it coal or nuclear, certainly hydropower is the best bet in the present scenario,” said D V Singh, Director (Technical) of THDC India Ltd, which recently entered into the thermal power sector apparently owing to the slowdown of the hydropower sector in the country particularly in Uttarakhand.
A series of hydropower projects including NTPC’s 600 Mw Loharinag Pala were scrapped in Uttarakhand following mounting pressure from environmentalists and Hindu religious leaders. The average tariff of the new hydel projects is Rs 3 per unit which is far better than that of coal and nuclear power plants. “We should focus on hydropower in order meet our growing power demand,” said B K B Mishra Director Operation of the state-run Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (UJVNL).