Pumped Storage Hydro

Foundation stone laid for 1,440 MW pumped storage project in Madhya Pradesh

Foundation stone laid for 1,440 MW pumped storage project in Madhya Pradesh

Honourable Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan has virtually inaugurated work on a 1,440 MW pumped storage project in Madhya Pradesh, India.

The project, being completed by Greenko Group, will be the country’s largest pumped storage facility, according to a release. The company did not name the project, but it appears to be Gandhisagar (or Gandhi Sagar).

The project in Neemuch district has a capacity of 1,440 MW, with storage for 7.5 hours. Greenko said the project will be expanded to 1,920 MW with storage of 6 hours, to provide a storage of nearly 11 GWh daily, but did not provide a timeline for this.

The overall investment will total INR115 billion (US$1.4 billion) over the next three years, and it will generate 4,800 jobs during construction and 200 jobs after completion of the construction. It will be completed within 30 months, as against the allocated period of 36 months by statutory authorities.

When completed, the project will be able to integrate more than 7,000 MW of renewable capacity, Greenko Group said.

This off-stream open-loop project envisages the construction of a new off-stream upper reservoir, and the existing Gandhi Sagar Reservoir will be used as the lower reservoir. The proposed upper reservoir will be made by construction of a 5,970-m-long and a 35-m-tall asphalt faced rockfill embankment dam (AFRD).

“The inauguration marks a milestone in India’s clean energy efforts,” said Anil Kumar Chalamalasetty, group chief executive officer and managing director, Greenko Group. “It is a moment of great pride for Greenko that we have pioneered to deliver 24/7 dispatchable renewable energy solution, for industrial decarbonization and energy transition. Achieving this is made possible through national level policy backing and the forward-thinking guidance of the Honourable Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan ji. Greenko is committed to facilitate a comprehensive shift towards carbon-free energy through integrated solutions.”

Greenko Group has an installed capacity base of 7.3 GW across solar, wind and hydro generation technologies spread over ~100+ projects across 15 states. Greenko is building 30 GWh of lowest-cost storage capacity as part of its plan to develop an energy storage cloud platform of 100 GWh.