In a first, the state government is looking at renovating and modernising the old hydroelectric projects in Maharashtra with private participation on a build, operate, transfer (BOT) basis.Maharashtra has 34 hydel projects with a total installed capacity of 2,636 MW. These were designed and commissioned through the state Water Resources Department and handed over to the Maharashtra State Power Generation Company Limited (MahaGenco) for operations and maintenance.<!– /11440465/Dna_Article_Middle_300x250_BTF –>”Some of these projects are past their prime and are over 35 years old. This means that their normative life is over. This has led to a decline in their efficiency and has increased incidents of breakdown. These antiquated units are difficult to maintain, besides having higher operation costs,” a senior state Water Resources Department official told dna.He added that a meeting in this regard was held by water resources minister Girish Mahajan and energy minister Chandrashekhar Bavankule. “The energy department will give us around Rs500 crore for renovation and modernisation of these old projects,” he said, adding that six projects have been selected for the overhaul.These projects included Yeldari (three sets of 7.5 MW each), Veer (two sets of 4.5 MW each), Koyna foot level (two sets of 20 MW each), Bhatghar (one 16 MW set), Vaitarna (one 60 MW unit) and Koyna stage III (four sets of 80 MW each). The total capacity earmarked for refurbishment comes to nearly 467.50 MW. A report on these projects has been sought and is expected to be submitted within a month.”We plan to undertake work on remodelling and reconstructing a couple of old units on BOT basis,” the official said. Coal-based thermal power tops the installed power generation portfolio of the MahaGenco at 8,640 MW. The state-owned electricity generation has a 2,636 MW hydro electricity generation capacity, apart from 672 MW from gas and 180 MW from solar energy.
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