Under a new policy, the state cabinet has decided to renovate and modernise state-owned aging hydropower plants.
This will allow private players and public sector companies entry in some places. However, the state generation company will continue to handle some old plants.
The policy came up for approval at Tuesday’s, July 30, cabinet meeting.
For the implementation of this policy, two categories of hydropower projects have been created according to the water consumption of the project. Category one will include those projects whose main purpose is power generation. The renovation and modernisation of such projects will be done by the Mahanirmi Company. While category two projects will include irrigation and power generation projects. Tender system will be adopted for the renovation and modernisation of these projects.
The state government will not invest in LROT projects, but will earn annual revenue of INR 507 crore through threshold premium, upfront premium, 13 per cent free electricity supply, lease rent and intake maintenance fees.