WORLD BANK's Hydropower projects ,Vishnugad Pipalkoti Hydro Electric Project

The Government of India has requested the World Bank’s assistance to finance the proposed Vishnugad Pipalkoti Hydro Electric Project to be developed by the Tehri Hydro Development Corporation (THDC) on the Alaknanda river in Uttarakhand. The THDC is a joint venture between the Government of India and the Government of Uttar Pradesh.
The Vishnugad Pipalkoti Project has been designed as a 444 Megawatt, run-of-river hydropower generation scheme which, when completed, will generate approximately 1,800 Gigawatt-hours, (or million kilowatt-hours) of energy in a typical dependable year, representing a valuable addition of peaking power to India’s Northern grid, which faces severe power shortages at peak consumption times.
In order to maintain the water flow needed for power generation, the Project will build a 65-meter diversion dam to create a small reservoir in the Alaknanda gorge. This reservoir will store about 3.63 million cubic meters, the equivalent of about 4.9 hours of average flow of the river waters. A 13.4-kilometer head race tunnel will carry the water to an underground powerhouse which will generate the power.
A 3-km tail race tunnel will return all the diverted water back to the Alaknanda, approximately 18 km downstream from where the water was diverted. The impact of the Project on downstream water quality is expected to be negligible. A flow of water necessary to sustain the aquatic health of the river in the 18 km stretch shall be maintained at all times.
The Project is in the early stages of preparation* and a series of technical, environmental and social studies and impact analyses are currently underway to assess the impact of the Project on the local population as well as the local environment. These studies, complemented by consultations with affected communities, will form the basis of the Environmental Management Plan and the Resettlement and Rehabilitation Policy that will seek to mitigate the negative impacts of the Project. The studies, which shall be conducted over the course of 2007, have been designed to reflect the lessons learned from the extensive scrutiny of hydro projects that have been implemented in the past, including those financed by the World Bank in India.
THDC has opened a Public Information Center (PIC) at the project site in Haat village to allow local people easier access to information relating to the Vishnugad Pipalkoti Project. The PIC will also stock copies of all relevant studies and documents.
The power generated by the Vishnugad Pipalkoti hydro project will feed into the northern Indian energy grid, directly benefiting consumers in the states of north India and improving the availability of power at reasonable cost. Amongst other supplies being developed, this power can also be used to provide service for those who currently have limited or no access to electricity. The sale of power from the Project will provide the state of Uttarakhand with a royalty of 12 percent of the power generated, which is estimated to be around Rs. 40 crorre (approximately US$ 10 million at current conversion rates) each year at existing tariffs.
Hydropower being one of the cleanest energy generation options available, the Vishnugad Pipalkoti Project will also help reduce India’s emission burden. If a coal or oil-fired plant of the same capacity were to be built instead, that thermal plant would release greenhouse gases in the range of 12,000 tons of sulphur oxide, 6,000 tons of nitrogen oxide, and 2 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year.
*World Bank financing for the Project will depend on the Project meeting certain critical requirements regarding safeguarding the social and environmental interests of local communities affected by the hydropower scheme. Assuming these requirements are met, the Project will be financed by an investment loan from the World Bank, tentatively in the amount of US$ 400-420 million, representing a substantial portion of Project investment costs and funds for technical assistance aimed at helping THDC strengthen its standards for the design, development, construction and operation of hydropower plants.

RAMPUR ,WORLD BANK HYDROPROJECTS IN INDIA

Rampur Hydropower ProjectThe Government of India has requested the World Bank’s assistance to finance the proposed Rampur Hydropower Project (Rampur Project) being built on the upper reaches of the Sutlej river in the Shimla and Kulu districts of Himachal Pradesh. The Project is being developed by the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (SJVN -- previously known as the Nathpa Jhakri Power Corporation, NJPC), a joint venture between the Government of Himachal Pradesh and the Government of India.The 412 Megawatt (MW) Rampur Hydropower Project is planned as a cascade plant to India’s largest hydroelectric power plant, the 1,500 MW-Nathpa Jhakri plant. A 15-km underground tunnel will carry water emerging from the Nathpa Jhakri plant and bring it downstream to a powerhouse located near Bael village in Kulu district. As it uses de-silted water from the Nathpa Jhakri plant, the Rampur Project will not involve the construction of any dam, or reservoir or de-siltation chamber; nor will any land be inundated for the scheme.The Rampur Project is expected to generate about 1,770 million units of electricity each year, which will feed into the Indian energy system through the Northern Region Electricity grid and help improve the quality of electrical supply to consumers, especially at peak-load times. Twelve percent of the total power generated at the plant will be passed on free to the state of Himachal Pradesh as royalty – the estimated annual value of this is around Rs 530 million. Himachal Pradesh can then choose to further sell the power to other states or else utilize it for meeting its own energy needs. In addition, in recognition of its investment in the project, the state of Himachal Pradesh will receive an additional allocation of around 109 MW of power and will also receive dividends from the project. The state will also be entitled to a share in the remainder of the power generated from the project.The Project will also have significant environmental benefits. If a coal or oil-fired thermal plant of the same capacity were to be built instead of the Rampur hydro project, the emission of greenhouse gases would add about 12,000 tons of sulphur oxides, 6,000 tons of nitrogen oxides, and about 2 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year. By building and operating the Rampur hydropower plant, this pollution is being avoided.
Resettlement & Rehabilitation
Public Public Consultation on the Resettlement Action PlanThe location and design of the Rampur Project have been finalized with the aim of minimizing adverse impacts on local people and their natural environment. Some 79 hectares spread across eight panchayats was acquired for the Project; of this, 49 hectares is forest land (although largely without forest cover) belonging to the Himachal Pradesh state government and some 30 hectares is private land belonging to 141 families comprising 167 landowners.
SJVN’s corporate policies, taken together with the World Bank’s safeguard policies that govern resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R), have ensured that an equitable system of R&R and benefit-sharing is worked out for people affected by the Rampur Project. SJVN staff has consulted comprehensively with the project-affected people (PAPs), explaining the necessity of the Project, discussing with them the options for resettlement and rehabilitation as well as local area development. The Resettlement Action Plan and the Sustainable Community Development Plan that govern these initiatives are available at the site Public Information Center in Bael village, in public libraries at Rampur and Shimla, on SJVN’s websiteand from the World Bank's InfoShop.The displaced families who will lose their houses will each get a plot of 280 sq. meters at a site of their choice on which to build their new houses. The families had a choice of options including that of a developed house or a plot, but all chose to construct their own houses. They will be given monetary help for the construction of 60 sq.meters of built up plinth area on which to construct their new homes, as well as a monthly rental allowance to help them tide over the period of construction (18 months) in a rented house. Each family will also receive a lump sum amount to help them meet the costs of shifting from one house to another.A special package has been worked out for those 35 families who will be left with less than five bighas of land after the project has acquired their land it needs. Apart from the compensation for the acquired land, they will also receive a rehabilitation grant, depending on the amount of land left with them after acquisition. In order to help the PAPs recover from any loss of livelihood and also in order to help those interested in setting up additional income-generation schemes, SJVN will also offer seed money of upto Rs 30,000.The Company has also undertaken to give preference to suitably-qualified candidates from landless families whenever a job opening comes up. The contractors working on the civil works of the Project have also been directed to give preferential employment to people from the project-affected area while hiring labor. All petty contracts on the Project upto a value of Rs 1 million are also being earmarked for PAPs. About Rs 12 million of such contracts have already been awarded to PAPs and more worth Rs 95 million have been given to people from other parts of Himachal Pradesh. Children from project-affected families and areas are being offered merit scholarships to acquire technical and vocational skills and the first batch of 35 students, including four girls, are already receiving training in a variety of trades.
Benefit SharingThe villages impacted by the project – Fatti Bayal, Fatti Nirmand, Fatti Kushwa, Fatti Tunan, Fatti Poshana, Gadech (Koel), Duttnagar -- have also been ear-marked for special development assistance
A A footpath to village Bakhan constructed under the project's community infrastructure development program SJVN has set aside Rs 125 million to be invested over a period of five years in infrastructure and development schemes for these villages, out of which Rs 6.20 million (out of the first-year budget of Rs 25 million) has already been spent/ works in progress. Thereafter, the villages will get Rs 7.5 million each year in perpetuity. Here again, the people have led the local area development exercise, choosing the infrastructure schemes they would like to see implemented in their villages. From street-lighting, through improved water supply to footpaths and footbridges, the villagers have identified their particular needs which are being funded by the scheme. The Company also runs a mobile health van that does the rounds of the project-affected villages taking basic healthcare to the doorstep of people living in remote areas and the Project is also setting up a dispensary at Bael village, the site of the proposed powerhouse for the Rampur Project.SJVN, which as the developer of the already-operational Nathpa Jhakri Project has a long-standing relationship with the region, is also helping improve the quality of people’s lives beyond the project-affected villages. The Company is helping finance the renovation of the bus-stand at Rampur town; it is also helping build several access roads and bridges and helping improve infrastructure in local schools.
Benefits to Himachal PradeshApart from the 12 percent free power it receives as royalty (worth approximately US$13 million or Rs 530 million annually at current prices), the host state of Himachal Pradesh will also get an additional 30 percent of power generated at Rampur project (109 MW) at cost; this is equivalent to its share of equity percentage in the project. And, as part owner of SJVN, the company developing the Rampur Project, Himachal Pradesh will also receive dividends on its investment in the project and also be entitled to a share in the remainder of the power generated from the project.The state also stands to gain in terms of job creation and income-generation. The Rampur Project has already generated some 2,500 man-months of work for the people of Himachal Pradesh over the last one year and some Rs 107 million of petty contracts on the Project have already gone to people belonging to the state. So far 145 members of the families affected by the project were offered work under contractors.
Environmental Issues
In a bid to assess and mitigate possible environmental fallouts of building and operating the Rampur
Public Public hearing to discuss the evironmental impacts of the Project. Project, SJVN has undertaken a series of detailed studies that look into environmental aspects ranging from river flow, terrestrial biodiversity, forest impacts, etc. Baseline data on all these aspects has been collected by qualified teams, the findings and mitigating strategies have been discussed with experts as well as local communities, and an Environmental Management Plan (EMP) prepared. These documents can be accessed at the site PIC at Bael village, on SJVN's websiteand as well as from the World Bank's InfoShop.
Under the EMP, the Project will ensure that the minimum flow of water needed in the river Sutlej to preserve its aquatic balance is maintained. Also, in order to compensate for any adverse impact on the natural biodiversity of the region, the Project is helping the state forest department plant new forest cover and re-develop degraded forests through a Rs 66 million-compensatory afforestation scheme. A Catchment Area Treatment Plan has also been worked out and SJVN has made available a sum of Rs 220 million to the Himachal Pradesh government for activities that will include not just the planting of new trees in the region but also a host of other initiatives – like building check dams, retention walls, village tanks and ponds and plugging mountain gullies – to help prevent soil erosion and water conservation in this ecologically-sensitive area.
The project will also treat landslide-prone areas in the vicinity to prevent further degradation of the mountainside and effective disposal of sewage and construction debris will ensure that the project does not add to the pollution of either the river or the natural environment. The Plan will also cover environment-awareness activities, including convincing villagers to grow fodder on their farms in order to reduce grazing pressure on the forests, as well as to switch to solar cookers to reduce their foraging for firewood.
Dam Safety
Although the Rampur Project has no dam, both the Rampur and the Nathpa Jhakri projects depend for their water on the small reservoir entrained behind the Nathpa dam, which is situated deep in the canyon of the Sutlej river, upstream of the Rampur Project.
The dam at Nathpa is only 60 meters high and was built to a very rigorous specification and constructed following the World Bank policy on safety of dams. It is a steel-reinforced concrete gravity dam, with its foundations built into an excavation in the bedrock of the river. It has been designed to withstand the pressure of the water in the reservoir even during the unlikely event of an earthquake.
To further ensure its safety and water-tightness the dam abuts the riverbanks at a carefully chosen location on the Sutlej river, where the river canyon has strong shear walls. During its construction, a panel of experts was employed to advise SJVN on all aspects of construction of the dam as well as the underground works. Thus for the Rampur Project, dam safety aspects needed only to be re-confirmed; and accordingly, SJVN has engaged the Dam Safety Organization, Pune, which has examined and confirmed the safety of dam with respect to it stability, its instrumentation and its maintenance.

WORLD BANK HYDRO POWER PROJECTS IN INDIA-1

Question: Why is the World Bank financing hydropower projects in India?

A key initiative of the Government of India is the development of hydropower to help meet the country’s energy needs and provide all its citizens with access to electricity by 2012.Hydropower being an indigenously-available, clean and renewable source of energy, the Government of India is keen to use the largely untapped potential in this area – currently only 23 percent of India’s hydro potential is being utilized -- to provide the additional generating capacity it needs.Moreover, additional hydropower capacity is desirable in India’s generation mix, as it provides the system operator with technically vital flexibility to meet the changes in demand which typically affect a power network like that of India. The high density of household demand in India means that the system can experience a peaking load of anything between 20,000 to 30,000 MegaWatts. This sudden spurt in demand can be best met by hydropower plants which have the ability to start up and shut down quickly. Other sources of power cannot do this as economically.Also, the Government of India is committed to developing world-class companies that are able to design, construct, and maintain hydropower projects to international standards, and has requested the World Bank’s support in this endeavor. In addition to helping with financing, the Bank brings extensive experience in developing such projects across the world.
Question: Is the World Bank helping the country to plug the holes in the existing power system before embarking on expanding hydropower capacity?The World Bank is assisting India in improving its overall power transmission, distribution, and management. For the last 10 years, the Bank has been working with several of India’s states to reform their power sectors in order to help their electricity utilities reduce losses and improve the efficiency of the system.The Bank has also been working with Power Grid Corporation of India, which is a Central government enterprise operating the national power grid, in order to strengthen the transmission backbone of the country. We are also working on a project to improve the efficiency of existing coal-fired power plants.The Indian power sector has made significant improvements in the maintenance and operation of its existing power systems. However, there is a limit to how much benefit in terms of additional power can be had from just these improvements. With the demand for electricity continuing to rise, the country needs also to look to additional and efficient generation.
Question: What lessons has the World Bank learnt from past experience in hydropower?The Bank has been engaged in hydropower projects since the late 1950s. As important as they are, hydropower projects can be complex and challenging. Along the way, the Bank together with its partner governments and the international community has learned lessons about what works and what doesn’t work in such projects.Experience has shown that a number of things are essential for such projects. These include:• Careful selection of the site and appropriate engineering design;• Solid initial investigations, especially regarding geological conditions;• Strong and competent implementing agencies;• Continued and substantive consultations with stakeholders;• Early attention to social and environmental aspects of projects, in particular, mitigating the negative social and environmental impacts of the projects; and• Appropriate financing and tariff design which are critical to the financial sustainability of projects with long gestation periods.These lessons have now been incorporated into the Bank’s operational policies and implementation practices in the sector.
Question: How does the World Bank safeguard the interests of people affected by hydropower projects?The World Bank's environmental and social safeguard policies prevent and mitigate undue harm to people and their environment in the development process. The effectiveness and development impact of Bank projects and programs has increased substantially as a result of these policies. Safeguard policies have often provided a platform for the participation of stakeholders in project design, and have been an important instrument for building ownership among local populations.For more details, please go to: Safeguard Policies
Question: Is the World Bank financing renewable sources of energy?Yes; and the World Bank’s assistance for hydropower development is only a part of its strategy to support renewable energy generation in India. It is also working with the Government of India to facilitate the use of other sources of renewable energy.An ongoing Second Renewable Energy project supports the work of the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) in this area. This is the second in a series of loans to IREDA and finances small renewable energy projects such as solar, micro-hydro etc.
Question: Is the World Bank following the recommendations of the World Commission on Dams (WCD)?The World Bank supports the core values and strategic priorities spelt out in the WCD report. The Bank also recognizes the WCD Report as a major contribution to defining issues around dam development and identifying innovative ideas for improved evaluation and management.As regards the 26 guidelines enumerated in the Report, the Chair of the WCD has explained that these guidelines “offer guidance – not a regulatory framework. They are not laws to be obeyed rigidly,” adding that individual governments or private developers may wish to test the application of some of these guidelines in the context of specific projects. Consequently, the World Bank works with countries and companies on the the hydropower projects it supports to see how the relevant guidelines, along with the Bank's safeguards, can be applied to individual projects in a practical, efficient and timely manner.It may be added that the Government of India – like other governments that are building dams – has not accepted the guidelines of the WCD as prescriptive regulations. The WCD guidelines are among a growing set of best practices on sustainable hydropower development available today. These sets, which include the International Energy Association's guidelines and the International Hydropower Association's Assessment Protocol, all provide helpful advice and detailed checklists for project preparation.More on the World Bank’s response to the World Commission of Dams
Question: Does the World Bank agree with the WCD recommendation that a dam be built only after local people have given their consent?In the projects it supports, the World Bank requires that free and meaningful consultations with directly affected and indigenous people be undertaken at the very outset. As an integral part of several Bank safeguard policies, the views of these people must be carefully documented and the results of consultations be taken into account in deciding whether to proceed with the project or not.However, the right of a sovereign state to decide how to use its natural resources in the best interests of the nation as a whole cannot be infringed.

WORLD BANK HYDROPOWER PROJECTS IN INDIA

India’s critical need for powerSevere power shortage is one of the greatest obstacles to India’s development. Over 40 percent of the country’s people -- most living in the rural areas do not have access to electricity and one-third of Indian businesses cite expensive and unreliable power as one of their main business constraints.India’s energy shortfall of 10 percent (rising to 13.5 percent at peak demand) also works to keep the poor entrenched in poverty. Power shortages and disruptions prevent farmers from improving their agricultural incomes, deprive children of opportunities to study, and adversely affect the health of families in India’s tropical climate.Poor electricity supply thus stifles economic growth by increasing the costs of doing business in India, reducing productivity, and hampering the development of industry and commerce which are the major creators of employment in the country.Hydropower development -- a key government initiative To boost economic growth and human development, one of the Government of India’s top priorities is to provide all its citizens with reliable access to electricity by 2012. To ensure that the uncovered 40 percent of Indian homes get electricity by 2012, and to serve rising demand from those already being served by the power grid, the government estimates that the country will need to install an additional 100,000 MegaWatts (MW) of generating capacity by 2012, expanding grid-based generation to about 225,000 MW. Given that India added about 23,000 MW during the last Five Year Plan of 2002-2007, this will be quite a quantum jump.The Government of India has decided to acquire an inreasing portion of this additional power from the country’s vast untapped hydropower resources, only 23 percent of which has been harnessed so far. India’s energy portfolio today depends heavily on coal-based thermal energy, with hydropower accounting for only 26 percent of total power generation. The Government of India has set the target for India’s optimum power system mix at 40 percent from hydropower and 60 percent from other sources.Advantages of hydropowerWhen developed in accordance with good environmental and social practices, hydropower plants have the advantage of producing power that is both renewable and clean, as they emit less greenhouse gases than traditional fossil fuel plants and do not emit polluting suspended particulate matter (from the high ash-content of indigenous coal).Hydropower plants can also start up and shut down quickly and economically, giving the network operator the vital flexibility to respond to wide fluctuations in demand across seasons and at different times of the day. This flexibility is particularly important in a highly-populated country like India where household electricity demand is a significant portion of total demand and this demand in concentrated in a short period of time (usually in the evening). As an illustration, if the approximately 150 million households in India were to turn on two 100 watt light bulbs at 7 pm, the power system would experience an instantaneous surge in demand of about 30,000 MW! Today, this peak demand is often met by households turning on small gasolene and diesel generation units, which, in addition to being polluting, are a serious health hazard in congested areas. And, with rising wealth, households are switching on a lot more than two light bulbs. Although hydropower plants are subject to daily and seasonal variations in water flows (which affects the production of electricity at that point in time), they are not subject to the fluctuations in fuel costs that trouble thermal power plants.While hydropower plants have large up-front capital costs, they also have long and productive lives, which significantly help reduce costs over time. For example, the Bhakra Nangal plant, now more than 40 years old, has operating costs of only Rs 0.10 or US$ 0.002 per unit. Hydropower plants are thus generally cheaper in the long run than natural gas-based plants, which are constantly at risk from fuel price increases in the global market.While India plans to develop mainly run-of-the-river projects, multipurpose hydropower plants with water storage facilities can help manage critical water resources in an integrated manner by serving as flood controllers as well as sources of irrigation and much-needed drinking water. The Tehri Dam in Uttarakhand, for instance, which was commissioned in 2006, today caters to one-third of the drinking water needs of Delhi, India’s capital.Besides which, India’s hydro-resources are largely available in some of the least-developed parts of the country and hydropower plants, if designed appropriately offer significant potential for regional development and poverty alleviation. Hydropower projects that forge equitable systems of benefit-sharing and implement targeted local area development can help local communities improve the quality of their lives quite significantly.
Challenges of hydropower developmentWhile hydropower plays an important role in the energy and development strategies of India, such natural resource projects are inherently challenging. Environmental and social impacts are inevitable but they can be mitigated. Hydropower development in India has seen significant strides in understanding and addressing these impacts and the lessons learned from past engagements are now being incorporated in project selection and design.These lessons, coupled with suggestions from civil society, have resulted in changes to the laws and regulations that govern hydropower development today. As a result, there have been improvements on the ground, including greater public consultation with people affected by such projects; better monitoring of the environmental and social aspects of projects; and improvements in resettlement policy and practice. The Government has also ensured that the methodology used by Central power agencies to select sites has improved, as has the capacity of various hydropower developing agencies to deal with complexities in project identification, engineering and design.
World Bank assistanceThe Government of India has requested World Bank support for its plans to increase the country’s hydropower capacity. It has also requested Bank assistance to help its power sector agencies build on their recent achievements with the aim of attaining international standards in hydropower design, construction and operation.The World Bank aims to assist the Government of India in meeting its targets for hydropower expansion in a sustainable manner. This entails not just ensuring financial, economical, and technical soundness but also meeting social practices which have been developed by the industry in recent years, and safeguarding environmental assets for future generations.The Bank has been engaged in hydropower in India since the late 1950s. Several of its past engagements have been difficult, with Bank support for a number of potential hydropower projects, including the Sardar Sarovar project on the river Narmada, being cancelled before they were commissioned. The two most recent Bank engagements, the Nathpa Jhakri and Koyna IV projects which were completed in 2002 and 1998 respectively, have benefited from the lessons (FAQs) of earlier hydropower development, including more socially and environmentally sensitive safeguard policies.
Proposed hydropower projects in IndiaAt the request of the Government of India, the World Bank is evaluating two hydropower projects in the country -- the Rampur Hydropower Project downstream from Nathpa Jhakri on the River Satluj in Himachal Pradesh and the Vishnugad Pipalkoti Hydropower Project on the River Alaknanda in Uttarakhand. While the Rampur Project is in the project appraisal stage, the Vishnugad-Pipalkoti project is in the early stages of preparation.The World Bank is also assisting the state governments of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand adopt a river-basin approach in the planning and development of cascaded hydropower systems. The two mountain states that have made hydropower generation a significant development priority, have asked for Bank assistance in initiating a River Basin Development Optimization Study that uses the Satluj and Alaknanda rivers as case studies. The Study aims also at forging effective and equitable systems of cost-and benefit-sharing among all stakeholders, including developers and operators, affected local communities, and host states.