Dams, Rivers & People 18

NHPC’s Underperformance in Power generation

NHPC Ltd, previously called National Hydroelectric Project Design 90% Actual 90% % under % years
(installed dependable dependable performance when
Power Corporation, is the main vehicle of the cap, MW) generation, generation, generation
Government of India’s plans to implement large hydro MU MU below 90%
design
projects in the central sector. The company, set up in generation
1975, has current installed capacity of 3663 MW, spread Bairasul 779.28 606 22.24 58.33
over eleven projects in six states. So over the 34 years (198)
of its existence, it has achieved around 108 MW of Chamera 1664.56 1990 (over) 00
(540) +19.55
installed capacity per year. It has a Joint Venture called Chamera- 1499.89 1372 8.53 100
the Narmada Hydroelectric Development Corporation II (300)
with the Madhya Pradesh government, with total Salal (690) 3082 2305 25.21 50
installed capacity of 1520 MW. However, the company Uri (480) 2587.38 1954 24.48 58.33
has ambitious plans. A dozen projects with installed Loktak 443.6 405 17.39 29.17
(95)
capacity just over 4600 MW are under implementation Rangeet 349 304 12.89 66.67
and many more in pipeline. However, there has been (60)
little attempt at systematic, independent appraisal of the Tanakpur 525 408 38.99 100
company’s performance. Here we attempt at providing a (120)
snapshot of the company’s performance on power Dhauli 1907 1117 41.43 100
Ganga
generation front. (280)
Dulhasti 1134.69 Analysis not possible since the project is
In the graph below we have plotted NHPC’s annual (300) in operation for only two years.
power generation in Million Units per MW installed Teesta V 2573 Analysis not possible since the project is
capacity. We have used only official generation figures (510) in operation for only One year.
5.75

A few noteworthy observations from the above table:

5.66
5.45

5.8 Generation-MU/MW  None of the NHPC projects have achieved

5.6
5.13

5.4
generation at the promised level, with the exception of
4.91

5.2
4.71

4.69
4.61

4.61
4.56

5
Chamera project. For Chamera, when one compares the
4.54

4.46

4.8
4.21

4.19

4.6
design 90% dependable generation figure with that of
4.15

4.09
4.03

4.4
4
3.76

4.2
the upstream Chamera II project, we find that indeed,
3.72

4
3.43

3.8
3.6
Chamera’s design generation figure seem rather low
3.4
when one also considers that a number of additional
1988-89

1989-90

1990-91

1991-92

1992-93

1993-94

1994-95

1995-96

1996-97

1997-98

1998-99

1999-2000

2000-01

2001-02

2002-03

2003-04

2004-05

2005-06

2006-07

2007-08

2008-09

streams bring water to Chamera, including Baira-Siul.

 When one looks at the last column, one realizes
that at least three projects (of the nine projects for which
from the Central Electricity Authority. We can see from
this analysis is applicable) have never achieved the
this plot that there is a clear downward trend line in
design 90% dependable generation figure. Four other
NHPC’s power generation performance. The 21 year
projects have not achieved that figure in 50% or more of
figures that we have used here is a long enough series
the years.
to capture NHPC’s power generation trend. The trend
 In case of five of the nine projects, the under
line also possibly indicates something about the
company’s future performance. performance is more than 20%, for two of the projects
more than 35%.
Promise Vs Actual Generation We also assessed This kind of under performance in power generation
NHPC’s power generation performance in another way. should shock anyone. Unfortunately in India, this kind of
The hydro projects are sanctioned based on certain analysis is not even done, leave aside the question of
power generation promise. This promise is captured in holding people accountable. It should be noted here that
the figure of power to be generated by the project these projects have been constructed at huge social,
proponent as 90% dependable generation figure. What environment and economic costs and the project
this figure means is that the project is supposed to authorities must be held accountable for such gross
achieve that level of generation or higher level in at least under performance.
90% of the year. Our analysis of NHPC projects’ actual
power generation, as against the promised generation is What we have attempted here is to provide only a
given in the table below. All figures, including the design snapshot of the company’s power generation
90% dependable generation figures have been obtained performance. NHPC’s performance in other relevant
from the Central Electricity Authority. In case of some of areas of social, environment, economic, financial,
these projects (e.g. Baira Siul, Loktak, Tanakpur governance, safety or technical issues is not even
projects), the installed capacity has been changing. We mentioned here, we can only add that available
have proportionately changed the design 90% indicators are not particularly positive.
dependable generation. (SANDRP analysis by Swarup Bhattacharya and Himanshu Thakkar)

APRIL MAY 2009