Hydro power generation in the country has been exceeding the current fiscal’s targets till now on the back of higher water levels in the country’s reservoirs, according to data from the Central Electricity Authority.

Despite the monsoon rains falling short by six per cent from the 50 year long period average (LPA) till July 26, only four of the 31 reservoirs in country had less water than last year.

Hydro power helps supplement the peak power requirements of the grid in the summer months of the country. In 2014-15, hydro power generation in the summer months was consistently less than the targets which increased a burden on coal-based power plants.

However, things have improved in 2015-16. Between June 1 and July 22, a total of 22,248.17 million units were generated by hydro power plants which was 459.97 million units more than the target.

The hydro power generation in June 1 to July 22 in 2015-16 was also higher compared to last year’s 21,251.98 million units.

While the over all generation was higher than both last year and the targets, it was boosted significantly by higher generation in the northern region. This helped offset the generation shortfall from western, southern and eastern regions.

Between June 1 and July 22, hydro power generation in the north was 15,101.28 million units which was about 20 per cent higher than the targets and helped offset a fall of around 4-5 per cent from the other regions.

Northern region also has the highest capacity of hydro power at 17,796 MW while the Southern region comes second at 11,398 MW of installed capacity.

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