Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation
(HPPCL) Managing
Director Tarun Kapoor IAS
says the State has a huge potential as
far as the Hydroelectric Power Generation
is concerned. Himachal Pradesh's
hydel potential has been assessed at
25,000 MW, ie 25 percent of the total hydroelectric
power generation in the
country. Kapoor realizes that a lot can
still be achieved in this sector. The
HPPCL is targeting at 5,000 MW power
addition by 2022.Himachal Pradesh's power sector has been seeing a lot of activity in the recent past through the HPPCL and the Himachal Transmission Corporation (HTC). The state PSUs are pitching into commissioning a lot of hydroelectric projects with huge volumes of international funding for the projects.
Tarun Kapoor, also the Chairman of the HTC, is upbeat as the state units that virtually were non-functional before he joined in February 2008, have total investments, committed and sanctioned, to the tune of Rs 40, 000 crore. Kapoor explains, "The process of consensus building and making the financers believe in the viability of the projects has been the biggest challenge."
The turnaround is visible from international investment coming in the Corporation. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved advances to the tune of $800 million to the HPPCL for clean energy development. Besides this, the Himachal Transmission Corporation commissioned in 2008 was recently given the State Transmission Utility status to coordinate transmission needs in Himachal Pradesh. The HTC is planning a state transmission utility funded by the ADB with $300 million.
