Transmission challenge for ladakh power

Transmission challenge for ladakh power

Ladakh is to be India’s first carbon-neutral region and an ultra-mega 7,500 MW solar power project is to be set up in the Union territory, as announced by PM Narendra Modi in his In- dependence Day address. Innovative power evacuation from the mountain heights of Ladakh would be key; to optimise output, hybrid solar-wind plants and also hydropower capacity are surely needed.

The way forward is to build high-voltage direct current (HVDC) and Ultra HVDC transmission lines for efficient cross-country power evacuation with minimal energy loss. The first HVDC line nationally, built by Power Grid in 2015, al- ready connects the northern states with the northeast. More HVDC transmission capacity is reportedly in the pipeline to evacuate power from Bhutan. Such lines should clearly be cost-effective for Ladakh.

In tandem, hybrid wind power generation would make eminent sense, to overcome the variability and intermittency in solar power, for better grid integration and stability. Ladakh has huge wind power potential, which is estimated at over 5,000 MW at a hub height of 50 m; it can go up to as much as 1,00,000 MW at a hub height of 120 m.

Further, the In- dus and the Zanskar flow through Ladakh, and it has large hydel potential as well, due to fast current and high gradient. A series of run-of-the-river projects along smaller rivers in the region such as the Shyok or Suru would make perfect sense, to better harmonise green, renewable energy and conventional power generation. The way ahead is to have in place holistic policy design and a concurrent national tariffs policy for efficient pricing of power, so as to make big-ticket investments viable. Raising green fun- ding from multilateral sources must also be actively sought.