Lack of water availability in the initial months of FY23-24, followed by heavy rains and flash floods from August, resulted in the NHPC Ltd generating 16,797 million units (MUs) of hydropower between April and September this year, as against 18,303 MUs during the same period in FY23 — a decline of 8 percent, officials in the central public sector undertaking (CPSU) told Moneycontrol.
The situation worsened during Q2FY23-24, when the decline in hydroelectric power was as much as 11 percent, from 10,138 MUs in Q2FY22-23 to 9,010 MUs in the quarter ended September 2023.
“This is mainly due to lower water availability and then intense rain and flood in some parts of Himachal Pradesh in August, 2023, which has impacted the generation in the region, especially the outage of all units of Parbati III power station, which is now fully operational,” said a senior official from NHPC Ltd, India’s largest hydropower generating company.
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In a recent analyst call held after the company declared its Q2 results, RP Goyal, director (finance), NHPC, gave an update on the hydel projects affected by the flash floods which occurred in north Sikkim in the intervening night of October 3 and 4.
“Our power stations in the Teesta basin were unfortunately hit by unprecedented flash floods in north Sikkim. Our 510 MW Teesta V power station and 500 MW Teesta VI hydropower project, which is under construction, have suffered damages. Teesta Low Dam (TLDP) III and TLDP IV power stations have also been affected, leading to forced outages. TLDP IV has been made operational, and TLDP III is likely to be restored very shortly,” he said.
However, restoration of the under-construction Teesta V power station is likely to take a year. NHPC is fully insured under a mega-insurance policy for the loss of its assets and losses due to business interruption.
Plant availability & revenue impacted
According to the company’s statements, the plant availability factor (PAF) for the first six months of FY23-24 stood at 91.93 percent, versus 99.23 percent in H1FY22-23, which is about 7 percent lower. “This is mainly due to lower water availability and outage of some power stations, such as Parbati III, Kishanganga and Chamera II,” Goyal said.
PAF for Q2FY23-24 stood at 89.78 percent against 99.87 percent in the corresponding period in the year prior, or about 10 percent lower on account of the same reasons.
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Per the company’s results, NHPC’s revenue from operations was also hit. It clocked Rs 5,056 crore in the first half of FY23-24 compared to Rs 5,327 crore in the corresponding period in the year prior, which is about 5 percent lower. In Q2 FY24, the company’s revenue from operations was Rs. 2,485 crore as against Rs. 2,836 crore in the corresponding previous period, about 12 percent lower.
The government is anticipating a peak power demand of 256.53 GW (2,56,530 MW) in 2024. This year (2023), it had projected a peak power demand of 230 GW, but demand soared to an unprecedented 240 GW (on September 1). The surge in demand also resulted in an alarming spike in the country's power shortage, recorded at 10.745 GW (10,745 MW) the same day.
Currently, hydropower comprises about 11 percent of India's energy mix, per the Central Electricity Authority (CEA). Hydropower is considered a flexible mode of power generation. Unlike coal-fired plants, these units can be ramped up and down quickly in keeping with power demand.
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