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Maharashtra govt to increase power generation via small projects

WRD secretary CS Modak said nearly 150 SHP projects will be working towards power generation in five years’ time, out of which 50 projects have been installed and 50 are in the pipeline.

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The state government aims to increase the power generation through private small hydro power (SHP) projects from the present 9 megawatts (mw) per year to 30 megawatts, water resources department (WRD) secretary, CS Modak said.

“Nearly 53 megawatts of power has been generated by the SHP projects in the last six years. We want to achieve an annual target of generating 30 megawatts, in the next five years’ span,” Modak said.

The bureaucrat was speaking at the seminar on “Implementation of Hydro Projects through private participation” held at the Institution of Engineers Hall in Shivajinagar on Tuesday.

According to him, nearly 150 SHP projects will be working towards power generation in this period, out of which 50 projects have been installed and 50 are in the pipeline. Modak cited the problems of land acquisition, delay in issuing licence and other issues that act as barriers in the SHP projects.

“By accelerating the private projects of power generations and simplifying the licensing process, we aim to achieve our target efficiently. The Maharashtra government’s hydro policy 2005 through which SHP projects are being constructed and completed by private entrepreneurs is also helping in achieving the objective,” he said.

The daylong seminar witnessed paper presentations by various officials on hydro power generation. Most of these officials were of the opinion that though it is recommended to have 60% thermal generation and 40% hydro power generation, the present scenario indicates that only 15% hydropower is generated.

IIT-Roorkee’s Alternate Hydro Energy Centre (AHEC) director, Arun Kumar, who presented the paper ‘SHP Development in India’, said that renewed interest in renewable energy sources makes the SHP development a subject of interest worldwide.

“India has to harness every available source of power generation, hence hydro power development has acquired priority and small scale hydro power has a special place,” Kumar said.

According to him, a R&D hydro turbine laboratory of international standard is being established at the AHEC with the ministry of new & renewable energy’s (MNRE) support, for multiple purposes like turbine model testing, research and development in the field of hydro power.

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