New Delhi: The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) approved a record number of detailed project reports (DPRs) of six hydro pumped storage projects (PSPs) of about 7.5 GW during FY2024-25, the Ministry of Power said on Saturday, marking a key milestone in India’s ongoing commitment to developing advanced and long-term energy storage solutions.
These six projects are Upper Indravati (600 MW) in Odisha; Sharavathy (2,000 MW) in Karnataka; Bhivpuri (1,000 MW) in Maharashtra; Bhavali (1,500 MW) in Maharashtra; MP-30 (1,920 MW) in Madhya Pradesh and Chitravathi (500 MW) in Andhra Pradesh.
The participation of private sector in this segment is quite encouraging and with the help of self-identified PSP, the PSP potential in the country has crossed 200 GW and it is further increasing almost every month.
Further, CEA has made ambitious plan to concur minimum 13 PSPs of about 22 GW during 2025-26. Most of these PSPs are targeted to be commissioned in 4 years and latest by 2030.
The development of these projects will boost energy storage capacity drastically in the country, making a major contribution to grid reliability and supporting India’s ambitious renewable energy goals.
Hydro PSPs are vital for the energy transition, as they allow excess electricity generated during off-peak hours to be stored in the form of water in elevated reservoirs.
This stored energy can then be used back during non-solar hours peak demand periods, ensuring a reliable, consistent, and flexible power supply.
“From a meagre 3.5 GW of operational hydro PSP capacity in the country, the development needs to be taken up in an accelerated mission mode to harness this potential. This year, two PSPs around 3,000 MW will get commissioned and by 2032, we expect around 50 GW,” said the ministry.
At present, eight projects of 10 GW are under construction and DPR has been concurred for 3 projects of around 3 GW.
In addition, 49 projects of 66 GW are under survey and investigation. All these DPRs are expected to be finalised by the developers in two years, the ministry informed.
(IANS)
