Sustainable Energy System: Role of Hydro Power in Environmental Sustainability of Himalaya

Population growth, economic development, urbanization, change in hydrological regimes and land use are the main drivers affecting allocation and exploitation of natural resources. India’s demand for electricity is increasing rapidly, fuelled by strong economic growth and the need to improve the living conditions of a large part of the population. Hydropower is a renewable, clean and non-polluting energy resource with high convession efficiency showing spectacular operational flexibility and operational and economic advantage over other power generation means. However, mountains are also playing an increasingly important role in the realm of climate-change mitigation. The need to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the growing energy demands of newly industrialized and developing country like India is leading to increased interest in the potential of mountain areas to generate renewable energy. This trend can be seen in the development of small-hydropower, biomass, and wind power projects that feed into decentralized electricity grids for local consumption. On the other hand, it is also leading to a renaissance of large-scale hydropower dams that supply surrounding lowlands with low-carbon energy. After decades of decline, there has been a rise in recent years in the construction of new dams, and ‘‘climate change is now a greater driver of hydropower expansion’’. This trend is most evident in the promotion of hydropower dams as carbon-offsetting projects. The Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) recognizes hydropower as a means of sustainable climate change mitigation and supports dam building in the global south through the allotment of tradable carbon credits. The majority of ‘‘clean development’’ dams are being built in the Himalayan regions India, where great relief energy and high runoff rates provide ideal conditions for dam building, and energy demand in adjacent agglomerations is elevated.