Power Minister says India need to tap its hydro resources to achieve 500GW renewable energy targets
In order to install such a large amount of RE capacity, we would need a balancing source and that balancing source is hydro, stated power minister.
During an event commemorating the 47th Raising Day of the power company NHPC, Union Minister of Power R. K. Singh made a remark that India needs to tap its hydro resources to reach its goal of installing 500GW (gigawatts) of renewable energy capacity by 2030.
During his speech the power minister noted, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set the target of installing 500 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030. We plan on exceeding this target. However, in order to install such a large amount of RE capacity, we would need a balancing source. That balancing source is hydro, and here the role of NHPC becomes increasingly important.”
NHPC has been directed by the Minister to exploit the hydropower resources in the country to become one of the largest hydropower companies in the world.
R K SIngh further noted the accomplishments in the last 2-3 years where long-stalled projects have been resumed. Also, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh are progressing well with Subansiri’s lower hydroelectric project (2,000 megawatts). Furthermore at Dibang (dam), all hurdles have been cleared and this 3,000-MW project will also begin.
Axing his compliments on the employees for working with challenges in adverse weather conditions, he asked NHPC to establish as many hydropower capacity as possible and bring NHPC into the list of top hydropower companies.
NHPC Limited currently has an installed base of 7071.2 MW from 24 power stations including two joint ventures. Additionally, the company makes progress in the solar and wind energy sectors as well. The company has installed solar, rooftop solar, and wind energy projects in various parts of India, totaling 103.13MW.
There are currently 6,000 megawatts (MW) projects that are under development at NHPC, and another 9,000 to 10,000 MW is in the pipeline.
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