Clean energy player Bhoruka
Power Corporation Ltd
has targeted to attain 300
mw of installed power
capacity by 2012, S. Chandrasekhar,
Chairman & Managing
Director, BPCL, told Projectmonitor
on the sidelines
of a recent
power-related event
in Mumbai. The
company would
focus not only on its
core area-small
hydropower-but
would also have a
sizeable contribution
from wind energy,
the top official
said. The Karnataka-
based company has to its credit
the country's first small
hydropower project set up by an
IPP in the post-Independence
era. BPCL established the 18-mw
Shivapur small hydel project in
Koppal district of Karnataka in
November 1992.
Elaborating on the capacity
expansion plan, Chandrasekhar
said that around 50 mw of new
capacity would be commissioned
this fiscal year. "We are setting up
a large wind farm in Karnataka,
in Chikmanglur district, for
which wind masts have already
been installed," he said, discussing
the company's wind energy
projects. Dwelling on small
hydropower projects, he noted
that BPCL would largely remain
focused on its home state though
the company had spread its geographical
reach to Haryana.
In Karnataka, BPCL currently
has at least 11 small hydropower
schemes with an aggregate capacity
of 79.35 mw. The most recent
addition came through the Sattegela
project in Chamarajnagar
district that was commissioned in
2007. Work on several
projects, including
some in the Cauvery
basin, is underway.
For instance, the
ground-breaking ceremony
for the 18-mw
Kumardhara project in
Mangalore district
was recently performed.
The project
will have a four-way
underground tunnel
running 800m, making it the first
deployment of underground tunnels
by BPCL.
Meanwhile, the company, in
mid-April 2010, commissioned
the fourth unit of the 4x1.5-mw
Dadupur hydropower project in
Haryana. This is the first
hydropower project of BPCL outside
its home state. The wind
energy diversification came
about in 2003, and today, the
company has over 11 mw of
capacity spread over Karnataka
and Rajasthan.
When queried on why BPCL,
despite its long experience in
small hydropower schemes, was
not tapping opportunities in
north and northeast where maximum
potential exists, Chandrasekhar
was quick to observe
that Karnataka offered amongst
the best tariffs. "Lucrative tariff is
an important consideration for a
developer," he stated.
It is pertinent to observe that
Karnataka has shown tremendous
seriousness in the small
hydropower business. As of
December 2009, the southern
state had 588 mw of installed
capacity through SHPs, accounting
for 10 per cent of the country's
total. In fact, the capacity
installed in Karnataka is very
close to the state's potential that is
an estimated 748 mw. On the
other hand, water-rich states like
Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir,
Himachal Pradesh and
Arunachal Pradesh have little
physical achievement yet despite
the huge potential.
Chandrasekhar also mentioned
that solar power would be on the
company's radar in the long term.
"We are exploring opportunities
coming from the National Solar
Mission," he concluded. |