Associated PressVehicles stuck in mud in affected area in Sikkim
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 12:06
The breach of the Teesta III dam in northeastern India early this month claimed dozens of lives and people are still missing. These types of disasters are raising doubts among more and more residents about hydropower plants, which play a major role in India’s climate ambitions. Experts think it is important to focus on other forms of ‘clean energy’.
“I think the development of new projects has been set back by at least ten years due to this disaster,” says Anand Sankar. He works as an independent researcher of hydropower projects in northern India.
Ambitious goals
In principle, India is well on its way to achieving its own climate goals. By 2030, 50 percent of the energy mix must consist of green energy and according to figures from the Ministry of Energy, this is now 41 percent with more than six years to go.
One of Prime Minister Modi’s most important promises in 2015 was that every Indian village should have electricity within a few years. To a large extent, the infrastructure for this has been successfully constructed, but reliable electricity supply remains a challenge. More than half of India’s power comes from coal-fired power stations, making India one of the countries with the highest greenhouse gas emissions. The government wants to reduce those emissions to zero by 2070 and this requires more green energy sources.
Hydroelectric power plants are popular for that purpose, says Anand Sankar, because they deliver quickly. “It can absorb a dip in energy supply in the very short term.” The capital New Delhi, for example, is largely dependent on energy from hydroelectric power stations. During extremely hot summer days, the expected peak in energy use, including air conditioning, can be quickly absorbed. When it comes to wind and solar energy, India has not yet managed to store excess production for later use. Hydroelectric power stations do not require expensive batteries because the dam functions as a storage facility.
Tsunami in the mountains
But there are also negatives to hydroelectric power stations. This came to light due to, among other things, climate change and a failure to regulate building codes.
Things went wrong in the early morning of Wednesday, October 4. A glacial lake in northern Sikkim broke through. The water that was released formed a kind of tsunami that worked its way down the mountain rivers with great speed. It ended up in the reservoir of the Teesta III dam, the largest and most prestigious project in the state. It turned out that the dam was not built for this amount of water.
There have been warning signs for some time that the dam was not strong enough, says Anand Sankar. He attributes the fact that the dam could not handle the force of the water mass to its quick and cheap construction.
Moreover, it now appears that mistakes were already made prior to construction. For example, no thorough research has ever been done into the river system around the Brahmaputra, one of India’s main rivers, whose branches in Sikkim end at the Teesta III dam. “This is a $1.6 billion project and there is no information available about checks carried out,” says Anand Sankar.
Wind energy
According to Sankar, insurance companies have become more cautious because of this and other disasters in the past. They now charge sky-high amounts to cover these types of large projects.
Binit Das of the Center for Science and Environment in New Delhi also sees a decline in the construction of mega-dams. “The Himalayan ecosystem is vulnerable and the construction of these types of projects always causes damage.”
To achieve the climate goals, Das believes that the Indian government must now focus on the further development of wind energy and electricity generated from biomass. “Electricity generated from water remains important for India’s power grid, but not at any cost,” says Das.
2023-10-15 10:06:04
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