Harnessing Brahmaputra
NEW DELHI: Amid China’s expansion of dams on the Brahmaputra, India on Monday unveiled a Rs 6.4-lakh crore ‘Master Plan’ to wheel 76 gigawatt (GW) of power from ongoing and proposed projects on the mighty river’s 12 sub-basins across the North-East.The plan prepared by Central Electricity Authority, power ministry’s technical planning arm, envisages building a total 31,000 circuit-km (ckm) of transmission lines, substations with 68 GW transformation capacity as well as 42 GW of HVDC (high voltage, direct current) lines by 2047. The plan is to be implemented in two phases. The first, estimated to cost Rs 1.9 lakh crore, will see building of 10,000 ckm of transmission lines with substations and 12 GW of HVDC lines by 2035. The second phase, estimated to cost over Rs 4.5 lakh crore, will witness construction of 21,000 ckm of transmission lines with substations and 32 GW of HVDC links by 2047.These lines are to wheel almost 65 GW from conventional hydro projects and an additional 11 GW from pump-storage plants. Arunachal Pradesh, bordering China, is expected to contribute more than 52 GW.The Brahmaputra has become strategically important since China announced a plan to build a dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo, the river’s Tibetan name. This has set off alarm bells in New Delhi over water flow in the river falling by up to 85% in the dry season and affecting India’s efforts to tap the river system’s hydel potential to meet its rapidly growing power demand. China, being on the upstream of the river, enjoys a natural advantage in controlling the flow of water. Since the river basin accounts for 85% of India’s untapped potential, the Centre has in recent years speeded up the hydel projects in the North-East.
