Long ago, when forests were considered as a source of supply of firewood and a few other produce, many giant hydroelectric projects came up supplying electrical energy to industries. Electrical energy (or commercial energy) was considered synonymous to development. The concept of ecology and the need for maintenance of forest areas were not understood. Hence power engineers designed major hydel projects with the objective of minimising capital cost and maximising the tapping of potential energy in water. That is, they wanted to tap every cc of water and every cm of head and if possible, put the whole quantity of water in one dam via tunnels etc. In their cost calculations, a nominal amount is allotted as compensation to the forests to be submerged and people to be displaced. The firewood energy that is available every year (by growth of forests/year) is not accounted for. Similarly, grass and other forest produce etc. are not costed.

With the advent of large number of hydroelectric projects and with other competitive uses for land and forest produce, the available forest is dwindling fast and it is becoming imperative to save the remaining forest areas. One of the first excercises to study in detail the effect of a project on the environment and to develop an economic model imbedding ecological costs is the study of the Bedthi Hydroelectric Project.

The project, one of the seven identified in the district of Uttara Kannada, is expected to produce 210 MW submerging 30,610 acres of land and 22 villages. The revised plans envisage a dam with FRL at 1540 ft and a submersion area of 6065 ha. The Karnataka Power Corporation has taken note of the points made at the Seminar held at Sirsi (Ed). Subsequent stages and additional project on Bedthi and Aghanashini rivers have also been identified. This project was looked at from economic, ecological and other angles by scientists from Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc and other places like IIM (Bangalore), Madurai, Dharwar, Pondicherry, ISI (calcutta), Pune as well as by reputed ecologists and local farming and forestry experts. A seminar was held at Sirsi and 17 papers were presented in it. Some of the main points brought out are;

i) If realistic cost for forest revenue, agricultural yields, grass and firewood are included in the calculations, benefit to cost ratio comes down to 0.847 from 1.5. This means that economically the project is not a viable one and needs to be reconsidered;

ii) Based on the costs, the cost of generation of electrical energy per unit works out to 25 paise;

iii) If energy storage aspect is compared, the project will produce 1 MW for 50 hectares, whereas the forest can generate biomass with energy equivalent for 1 MW of power with 25.50 hectares. Hence this clearly illustrates that energy lost is more than the energy gained;

iv) Alternatives like micro, mini and other hydro plants had not been considered;

v) Alternative capacity and plant designs with minimal forest area submergence had not been analysed;

vi) From the ecological point of view, the area is biologically very rich; more than 89 types of birds were identified in the area to be submerged;

vii) Energy planning activities should include energy conservation measures also.

When the above factors, clearly indicating economic infeasibility of the project, were brought to the attention of the State Government, the government stayed the execution of this project and appointed an Expert Committee. The Committee is at present working on the data provided to them from various sources and is expected to submit its report shortly.