Nine minutes wonder: A good reason for development of hydropower in India

The Nine Minute event of Sunday, 5th April’20 had been a wonder event and has made people appreciate and acknowledge the importance of hydropower. National Grid sur-vived 32 GW of sudden drop in demand with the help of intrinsic flexibility of the existing hydropower stations apart from the proven skill of seasoned engineers of the power sector. This special event has re-established the fact as to how hydropower plays a vital role in the nation's power generation mix. Its incomparable operational flexibility provides stability to the grid and makes grid-integration of other RE sources easier. In the present scenario when India is striving for addition of 175 GW of RE capacity by 2022 and 450 GW by 2030, aggressive addition of hydropower generating plants is required to be considered. More so, as a part of India's commitment to reduction of Green House Emission Gases (GSEs) [Paris Agreement 2016], hydro generation has to be added significantly if such large scale renewable energy addition program has to succeed. This paper narrates as to how grid was managed during that crucial time period when the domestic lights were switched off for 9 minutes. It reviews the available literature, studies and reports to analyze current scenario of hydropower in the country and possible barriers hindering the growth of hydro power in the country. This paper also takes into account various government initiatives taken in the recent past to enhance hydro power generation and recommends development of hydro power for achieving proper mix of hydro in power generation which can manage and rescue future grid instability issues.