News Brief | November 2011
Seismic experts to conduct quake impact studies
In view of the Sikkim earthquake, which has raised questions on the future of India's hydropower development, the power ministry has asked seismic experts from Indian Institute of Technology-Roorkee (IIT-R) to conduct earthquake impact studies at the dam sites of NHPC and North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (Neepco). NHPC, with a power generation capacity of 5,295 MW, is constructing a 2,000 MW project in Arunachal Pradesh and has plans to set up projects with a total capacity of 6,696 MW in Sikkim, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh. The total hydropower generation potential of India's North-Eastern states and Bhutan is about 58,000 MW. Of this, Arunachal Pradesh alone accounts for 50,328MW. Sikkim, as well as most of north India, falls in seismic zones 4 and 5, regions classified as highly vulnerable to high-intensity quakes.