India’s Union Cabinet has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Power to modify the budgetary support for infrastructure for hydro electric projects with a total outlay of $148.38m (INR12,461 crore).In a statement, the cabinet said the projects to be funded have a cumulative generation capacity of about 31,350 megawatts (MW). These will be implemented from fiscal year (FY) 2024-2025 to FY 2031-2032.
The scheme supports all hydro power projects over 25 MW, including private and pumped storage projects. It will also support 15,000 MW of pumped storage capacity.
Projects awarded up to 30 June 2028 will be eligible for this scheme.
The maximum government support for infrastructure costs is $11,933 (INR1.0 crore) per MW for projects up to 200 MW. For larger projects, the limit is $2.38m (INR200 crore) plus $9,000 (INR0.75 crore) per MW. In some cases, the government may provide up to $17,900 (INR1.5 crore) per MW with sufficient justification.
The financial support will be provided after review and approval by the relevant authorities.
