Mini projects planned to make optimal use of river water

Hyderabad: Amid growing tension between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh over sharing of river waters and electricity generation, the TS government has begun efforts to establish mini hydel power generation units at many project sites to utilise the water resources and meet the local demand.

State Irrigation department and TSGENCO are conducting a joint feasibility study to establish mini hydel stations on Krishna and Godavari rivers aiming to increase the hydel power generation capacity and use the same for lifting water from the Kaleshwaram and Palamuru – Ranga Reddy mega lift irrigation schemes.

It is estimated that nearly 7,000 MW of power is required to lift water from the two major lift irrigation schemes during monsoon season and the cost of the power supply will be around Rs 5,000 crore per year.