New Delhi, Aug. 21 -- Heavy monsoon rains across India may be creating havoc on the roads, but brimming reservoirs are expected to deliver higher hydropower for a second successive year. Electricity generation from hydropower plants is expected to increase by around 10% in 2025-26, according to rating agency Icra Ltd. Hydropower generation had similarly increased by about 10% in FY25 after decreasing 17% in the year before due to an errant monsoon season, according to Central Electricity Authority (CEA). The improved conditions are significant as India's 49 gigawatt (GW) hydropower generation capacity provides stability to the electricity grid given its quicker ramp-up and ramp-down capability than other sources of electricity. In the current monsoon season (June 1 to August 19), India received 623.1 mm of rainfall, higher than the normal rainfall of 611.8 mm for the period "(Hydropower) generation has been robust this year because of good monsoon and the growth may be over 10%. However, there may be concerns of heavy silting due to incessant and torrential rains," said Raj Kumar Chaudhary, former chairman and managing director, NHPC Ltd, India's largest hydropower developer. Increased flow in rivers following heavy rains is typically accompanied by high levels of silt, which could damage the blades of turbines in hydropower generation plants, forcing operations to halt. In FY25, hydropower plants across the country generated about 140 billion units of power, or about 7% of the overall 1,829 billion units of electricity generated. India has a total power-generation capacity of around 485 GW, of which 44% is from coal-based plants and 10% from hydropower plants. In the April-June quarter, before the monsoon season kicked in, India's hydropower generation increased 13.4% over the corresponding year-ago period to nearly 40 billion units, data from the CEA show. India also added about 1.65 GW of hydropower capacity during the first quarter, taking the country's total hydropower capacity to 49.37 GW, according to CEA. Because of high water levels at reservoirs this year, hydropower plants are operating at increased levels, said A.K. Singh, general manager, NTPC Hydro Ltd, a subsidiary of NTPC Ltd. "If a reservoir-based hydro plant used to operate about eight hours usually, now due to good rains and heavy flow of water, they are operating about 12 hours in a day," he said. Singh added that healthy reservoir levels would ensure better supply of power from hydropower plants during the lean months of December through February. The total live storage capacity of 161 reservoirs across the country was 135.277 billion cubic metres (bcm) as on 14 August. That was higher than both the 126.188 bcm capacity a year ago and the 10-year average of 109.268 bcm, data from the Central Water Commission show. Of these reservoirs, about 20 are hydroelectric projects. As per a study conducted by the CEA during 2017-2023, India's exploitable large hydropower potential was about 133.4 GW, and identified pumped storage potential about 181.4 GW. The Union government aims to increase India's installed hydropower capacity to 55 GW by 2030 as part of its ambitious plan to achieve 500 GW of non-fossil capacity by then....