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Developing hydropower in Himachal Pradesh

Project

Développer l'hydroélectricité en Himachal Pradesh, Inde, AFD
© HPPCL / Shimla
Project start date
Status

Ongoing

AFD financing amount
80 000 000 €
Country and region
India
Location
Himachal Pradesh
Type of financing
Sovereign loan
Beneficiaries
HPPCL
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AFD is assisting the Indian government with its objective of increasing the share of renewable energies in its energy mix. The objective: ensure the country’s energy security, while taking advantage of its huge hydropower potential.

Context

The rapid development of India’s economy leads to a sharp increase in energy demand. As 59% of power generation is currently based on coal and 9% on gas, the sector accounts for 40% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. Another major challenge for the country is its energy security, as India is relatively lacking in fossil fuels. In this context, the Indian government has launched an ambitious policy to develop alternative energies.

India’s hydropower fleet has a capacity of 40 GW (17% of the energy mix), with a potential estimated at 145 GW. The main development opportunities are to be found in the North, East and Northeast states. In Himachal Pradesh, the potential is estimated at 23 GW, including 11 GW under development.

Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (HPPCL), a State-owned company, is participating in 21 medium-sized projects under the development programme, with a total new capacity to be installed of 3 GW.

Description

The project aims to finance two run-of-river hydropower plants, Chanju III (48 MW) and Deothal Chanju (30 MW), located upstream from each other in the Chanju river basin. They will be built and operated by HPPCL.

The headrace tunnels for these two power plants will be entirely underground, which will minimize their environmental impact.

A technical assistance program, benefiting from France’s experience in the field of hydropower (19.7% of its power generation stock is now made up of hydropower plants), is being implemented to build the capacities of HPPCL in terms of financial planning, and optimizing the generation and maintenance of the plants. This technical assistance has materialized through the organization of a study trip to France for seven executives from HPPCL in June 2017.

Impacts

  • Development of the hydropower potential of the state of Himachal Pradesh
  • Production of low-carbon, reliable electricity to meet the needs of the population
  • Sharing French expertise in the hydropower sector
  • Reduction in CO2 emissions estimated at 276,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year