River valley development: the hydroelectric power option in Parbati basin - technological, environmental and economical aspects of Parbati hydroelectric project, stage Ⅱ

摘要

The need to improve India's economy and vital services calls for more power. The Government of India has a major challenge to tackle the vast deficit in the energy sector. Development of Parbati projects would be a major shift in the country's energy strategy and the contribution of 2070MW from Parbati projects would add up to the development of the nation giving a push to its economy. India is endowed with economically exploitable and viable hydro potential assessed to be about 84,000 MW at 60% load factor (1,48,700 MW installed capacity). In addition, 6780 MW in terms of installed capacity from small, mini, and micro hydel schemes have been assessed. Also, 56 sites for pumped storage schemes with an aggregate installed capacity of 94,000 MW have been identified. However, only 15% of the potential has been harnessed so far and 7% is under various stages of development. It is in this context that the 2070MW Parbati hydroelectric projects have been taken up by National Hydroelectric Power Corporation, a premier utility for development of hydropower in India to be developed in three stages. The paper mainly deals with 800MW Parbati stage Ⅱ, which has been taken up first and is under construction. Parbati stage Ⅰ which was under investigation has not been cleared from environment angle and may be taken up at a later date and Parbati stage Ⅲ is being taken up for construction shortly for which the survey and investigation have been completed. The projects are located in the Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh in India. The projects are located in a mountainous terrain spread over an area of approximately 200 square kilometer. The paper deals with the cascade development of river Parbati, a tributary of river Beas, situated in the lesser Himalayas. The paper aims at highlighting the technological, environmental and economical aspects of parbati stage Ⅱ.