India, June 18 -- The fiscal year 2025-26 was a watershed moment in Karnataka's long and storied hydel power journey; for the first time, the state's strategically located hydel power stations - four each in the Sharavathi and Kali river valleys, two each in the Varahi and Kaveri valleys, one on the Krishna and one on the Tungabhadra - generated a record-breaking 15,509 million units of power. In an age where clean power is currency, this was a stellar achievement, especially considering that some of those stations are among the country's oldest.

Karnataka's hydel power journey began with the commissioning of the Shivanasamudra hydroelectric project on June 30, 1902, 124 years ago this month. Technically, it was the second hydel project ...