Hydropower – an economic driver
- Part 1 -

N Shyamsundar Singh *

A file photo of Khuga Dam :: Pix - TSE

A. INTRODUCTION

In the hi-tech era, the competitive efficiency is not achievable without electricity; and without competitive efficiency a better economic performance shall remain a distant dream. The socio-economic degradation shall however continue unabated as usual.

A.1 An Essential Commodity

Today, every individual, irrespective of age, class, clan and profession has the right to ask his or her share of reliable power supply that is required for education, health care and career building at affordable cost. Even at the time of death also, one may need electricity for one's cremation. This is true for the simple reason that the conventional system of cremation that requires about 300 kg of firewood may need to be replaced from economic & environment considerations, by Electric Crematorium in near future. Thus, considering its great importance and significant indispensability, electricity is recognized as an essential commodity alongwith food, medicine etc.

A.2 A Core Infrastructure

Being one of the key inputs for all the scientific and technological activities for better economic performance, electricity plays a dominant role in the process of development of economy of the State. With the intensive use of power in all walks of life, modern world is able to move fast towards a new horizon where both the space gap and the time gap get reduced to a minimal. In simple term, life without electricity is something un-imaginable now. Thus, Electricity also has become a core infrastructure alongwith Road & Water supply etc. No further debate in this regard is called for.

A.3 An Industry

With the increase in the use of electricity for various domestic and industrial purposes, the demand for electricity has been increasing rapidly in both urban and rural areas across the country. This has made Power Sector the largest of all the sectors. Thus, the production, transmission and distribution of electricity at a large scale for sale to various consumers of the country with the help of a power market have already assumed the role of a big Industry.

The Electricity Industry is given importance so much so that scores of developers, promoters and investors from private sector have been attracted to the power business soon after the economic liberalization is introduced in India. The power market has also become an important conjunctive market with Capital Market.

B. ELECTRICITY INDUSTRY FOR MANIPUR

It is an established fact that no major economic transformation has been possible without perceptible contributions made by Industrial Sector. Therefore, Manipur also needs to have the kind of industry that can support and transform the economy of the State meaningfully.

B.1 Suitable Industry

The basic component that comes first in the mind of any industrialist while he is exploring the possibility of having a commercially productive industry is the availability of raw materials and its adequacy for consistent round-the-year production. The other pre-requisites that come next include core infrastructure like smooth connectivity, reliable power supply and water supply, use of state of Art technology, skilled and non-skilled labourers and congenial environment.

Therefore, reconnaissance of the potent area is inevitable at the first instance in order to assess the potential in terms of the quality and the quantity of the raw materials available and establish the preliminary feasibility. The preliminary feasibility report shall provide the foundation for carrying out detailed investigation on other aspects vis-à-vis development of the specific industry. Financial implications, resource mobilization, demand pattern in the market, competitive price of the product in the market, financial analysis & management and business plan etc. are the other vital considerations to be made and taken into account while establishing the techno-economic feasibility of the project.

B.2 Electricity Industry

A detailed survey carried out on various aspects and parameters shall definitely reveal that in the State of Manipur, the prospect of having a successful material based industry of the desired magnitude is really grim.

However, Mother Nature has gifted the State with huge power potential that is estimated at about 2000 MW, in its hilly rivers. The potential is expected to increase substantially when the detailed Survey and Investigation are carried out using the latest advanced technology.

The perennial discharge in the river can be harnessed at suitable locations for large scale generation of clean energy. The power so produced can be sold to load centres of the country or abroad with the help of the existing vast transmission network and the power market. The sale proceeds shall form an integral part of the perceptible contributions to the economy of the State as done by any other industry.

For this kind of Industry,
- the raw material is readily available in abundant quantity,
- material stock being maintained at huge expense for use in rainy season is not required.
- road connectivity for frequent transportation of either raw materials or finished product is not a pre-requisite.
- generated power is evacuated through efficient transmission lines.
- power market is readily available for sale of power.
- Operation & maintenance problem is comparatively less.
- water and power supplies from outside the project are required during construction stage only.
- comparatively less number of manpower is required for running & maintenance.
- serious labour problem is hardly encountered by the management.
- it is eco-friendly.

Therefore, it is an established fact that for a land locked States like Manipur, Electricity Industry is the only industry which is technically and commercially viable and it only can support the economy of the State meaningfully.

B.3 Power Market

In 1947, India had a small capacity of only 1650 MW. The installed capacity increased to almost 2,30,000 MW in March, 2013 with an addition of 20,000 MW in 2012-13. Still there is shortage in both the peak power and the energy.

The demand is expected to grow to 400,000 MW by 2022 and to 800,000 MW in another 10 years. Therefore, there will be no dearth of buyer even if the cost of generation is a little bit on the higher side. The national grid, which will be a countrywide synchronous system interconnecting the northern, western, southern and eastern regional grids, is scheduled for completion in 2013-2014. At the same time, the inter-regional transmission capacities shall also be increased in what is supposed to be the largest transmission grid in the world.

Like an ordinary market, the power market also has sellers, buyers and traders who take part actively in the business and it always maintains competitive price to the advantages of the consumers.

To be continued..