United Nations

The Balsio Hydel Project has a power generation capacity of 5.0 MW which has been installed to augment the power generation in Himachal Pradesh using renewable energy. The project activity improves the voltage profile and reliability of the power system in the remote area by delivering 21.95 GWh of clean energy to the grid.

The project activity generates clean electricity from the flowing water of the Balsio Nallah that was otherwise not being utilized, it avoids emission of greenhouse gases. In the absence of the project activity, the same amount of electricity is produced by generating units currently connected to the regional grid (North, East, West, North-Eastern grid or NEWNE grid) which predominantly consists of fossil fuel fired units.

Contribution of the project activity to sustainable development:
Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India has specified the social well being, economic well being, environmental well being and technological well being as the four indicators for sustainable development in the interim approval guidelines of host country approval eligibility criteria for Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects.

Contribution to Social Wellbeing:
● The project generates employment in the region during construction as well as operation of the project activity.
● There is no need for rehabilitation on site as the project is a run of the river scheme, which does not involve any impounding of water.
● Project activity leads to upliftment of society by generation of employment and development of the region.

Contribution to Environmental Wellbeing:
● The project activity is utilizing the hydro potential available for power generation thus not causing GHG emissions and hence cause no negative impact on the environment both at local as well as at the global level.
● The project activity is not resulting in degradation of any natural resources and thus leads to conservation of fossil fuels.

Contribution to Economical Wellbeing:
● The project activity generates employment for the local population and alleviates poverty.
● The project activity leads to additional investment for infrastructure development in the region like roads, communication facilities etc and the same is utilizing by the local population.

Contribution to Technological Wellbeing:
● The project activity employs the advanced hydro power generation technology that would encourage setting up of such new projects in future.
● The project generates real, measurable and long term emission reductions.

For more information on this project, please click here

For more information on the social benefits of the project click here