The first hydro-electric plant in India was installed in 1897-98 at Darjeeling (installed capacity 200 kw). This was followed by a hydro-electric station (4,200 km) along the Kaveri River at Sivasamudram (Karnataka) in 1902 to supply elec­tricity to Kolar gold mine.

Third hydel station was built on the Jhelum River at Mohara (4,500 km) in 1909. This was followed by hydel power stations at Shimla in 191 1 (500 mw and at Gokal Falls in 1914 (40,000 km). The First World War gave impetus to electricity development and a number of hydel projects were started in different states of the country. Khopali (1915), Shivpuri (1922), Bhira (1927) hydel power stations by Tata Hydro-electric/Power Co. in Maharashtra; Pykara (1932), Mettur (1937) and Papanasam (1943) in Tamil Nadu; Ganga Canal hydel power houses (1927-37) in Uttar Pradesh; Jogindernagar power house (1935) in Himachal Pradesh; and Pal vasal power plant (1940) in Kerala are worth mentioning because of which the installed capacity of hydel power rose to 575 mw in 1950-51 (generation being 286 crore km).

After independ­ence a number of multi-purpose and river valley projects were initiated to improve power generation. Notable among these were Bhakra Nangal, Hirakud, Rihand, D. V.C., Chambal, Tungabhadra, Koyna etc. Consequently installed capacity of hy­dro-electricity increased to 6,383 mw in 1970-71, 18,753 mw in 1990-91 and 26,800 mw in 2002-2003 exhibiting phenomenal growth of 45 times during last 52 years. The actual generation of electricity increased from 2.5 billion km in 1950-51 to 64 billion km in 2002-2003 recording 26 times growth.