Ministry of Power issues guidelines for budgetary support for flood moderation in Hydropower Projects

Target to achieve Hydropower installed capacity of 75 GW by 2030

The Ministry of Power has issued detailed guidelines for Budgetary support for Flood Moderation and for Budgetary Support for Enabling Infrastructure – roads and bridges with regard to Hydropower Projects. The basic objective of the Budgetary Support for these components is to reduce tariff levels of these projects, thus ensuring that the consumers are charged costs related to power components only.

Budgetary Support for Flood Moderation. The financial value of flood moderation will be worked on by technical agencies, viz., CWC, etc. in accordance with the guidelines. The amount required for flood moderation/ storage costs shall be released, through Ministry of Power budgetary provisions after appraisal of each project, on a case-to-case basis, by Public Investment Board (PIB)/ Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) as per due process.

Budgetary Support for Enabling Infrastructure: – The budgetary support for Enabling Infrastructure i.e., roads/ bridges for Hydropower projects will be on a case-to-case basis. It would be provided after appraisal/approval of each project by PIB/ CCEA as per the extant rules/due process and would be provided by the Ministry of Power.

Guidelines also issued for budgetary support for roads and bridges in these projects

The limit of this budgetary support for such roads and bridges would be i) Rs. 1.5 crore per MW for projects up to 200 MW and ii) Rs. 1.0 crore per MW for projects above 200 MW. It shall be provided for projects starting construction after 08.03.2019, i.e., the date of notification of the Cabinet approval.

The Government of India has approved various measures to promote Hydropower Sector in India.  Through these measures, it targets achieving a cumulative Hydropower installed capacity of 75 GW by the year 2030.  This will also underline India’s unwavering commitment to mitigate Climate Change by promoting Clean and Green Hydropower. These measures include declaring Large Hydropower Projects, i.e., projects with a capacity of more than 25 MW as Renewable Energy Source, Hydro Power Purchase Obligation, Tariff Rationalization Measures for reducing tariff, Budgetary Support for Flood Moderation component of Hydropower Projects and Budgetary Support for the cost of Enabling Infrastructure, i.e., Roads and Bridges.