The Northeast is blessed with the highest hydro power potential in the country on account of the mighty Brahmaputra and its immumerous tributaries. This power potential is estimated to be about 48000 MW. Although this constitutes as much as 30 per cent of the total reserves of India, less than even 3 per cent of this has so far been harnessed. Besides, there are considerable thermal power potentials. Given below are the statewise and basinwise summary of the study on proposed hydel projects in the Brahmaputra river system conducted by The Ecologist Asia.
| BASIN/STATE |
AR
|
AS
|
MN
|
MG
|
MZ
|
NG
|
TR
|
SK
|
WB
|
TL
|
| Luhit | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Dihang-Dibang | 29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29 |
| Subansiri | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 |
| Kameng | 29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29 |
| Upper Brahmaputra | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Lower Brahmaputra | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kalang | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Barak & others | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 11 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 42 |
| Teesta | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 2 | 23 |
| TOTAL | 89 | 7 | 22 | 11 | 6 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 21 | 168 |
Key: AR: Arunachal Pradesh; AS: Assam; MN: Manipur; MG: Meghalaya; MZ: Mizoram; NG: Nagaland; TR: Tripura; SK: Sikkim; WB: West Bengal