Orissa aims big in hydro power

Bhubaneswar: The Orissa government hopes to generate 1,500 Mw hydro-power from the proposed 110 small and mini hyro-units in future.

As hydro-power is clean, the state government has also decided to provide a subsidy of 14 paise on every unit of power generated by these units as carbon credit.

State Energy Minister SN Patro held a review meeting of all the proposed small and mini hydro-units in the state on Friday. “We are keen on developing hydro-power in the state,” Patro said. “More units are likely to come,' he added.

Of these, 28 units have received the required sanction from the state government.

These would be generating around 250 Mw of hydro-power, Patro said, 'With large waterbodies, rivers and canals in the state, prospects of hydro-generation are quite high and, therefore, we plan to achieve the hydro-targets in the coming days'. Moreover, he said the Centre was also keen on promoting hydro-generation as it met energy requirements without polluting the environment.

Encouraged by policy of the state and Centre in promoting hydro-power in Orissa, about 44 new units have applied afresh.

The state department of energy (DoE) has invited expressions of interest (EoIs) from different parties for setting up hydro-units.

Alongside, the state government has also identified avenues for setting up 38 new small and mini hydro-units in the state.