Hydropower projects in the Himalayas
Context:
- The Environment Ministry, in an affidavit placed in the Supreme Court has disclosed that it has permitted seven hydroelectric power projects, which are reportedly in advanced stages of construction, to go ahead.
- One of them is the 512 MW Tapovan Vishnugadh project, in Joshimath, Uttarakhand that was recently damaged by a flood in February.
What’s the history of hydropower projects in the Himalayas?
- In the aftermath of the Kedarnath floods of 2013 that killed at least 5,000 people, the Supreme Court had halted the development of hydroelectric projects in Uttarakhand pending a review by the Environment Ministry on the role such projects had played in amplifying the disaster.
- A 17-member expert committee, led by environmentalist Ravi Chopra, was set up by the Ministry to examine the role of 24 such proposed hydroelectric projects in the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi basin, which contains the Ganga and several tributaries.
- The Chopra committee concluded that 23 projects would have an “irreversible impact” on the ecology of the region.
- The Vinod Tare committee too concluded that these projects could have a significant environmental impact.
- The Environment Ministry in 2015 set up P. Das committee, that filed a “dissenting report” and allowed all six projects with design modifications.
What are the challenges such projects face?
- Glacial melt due to global warming
- Glacier retreat and permafrost thaw can decrease the stability of mountain slopes and increase the number and area of glacier lakes.
- Climate change driven erratic weather patterns like increased snowfall and rainfall.
- The thermal profile of ice increasing, making it more susceptible to melting.
- These changing phenomena made infrastructure projects in the Himalayan regions risky
- increased instances of cloudbursts, and intense spells of rainfall and avalanches
Expert committees recommend that there should be no hydropower development beyond an elevation of 2,200 metre in the Himalayan region.
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