India’s norms for pumped storage hydro projects aim to facilitate energy storage

Subject: Geography

Section: Indian Physical Geography

Context: The Ministry of Power recently issued draft guidelines to promote pumped storage projects (PSPs) in India.

Pumped storage hydro (PSH) plants

Pumped storage hydro (PSH) plants are storage systems based on hydropower operations between two or more reservoirs (upper and lower) with an elevation difference.
At the time of demand, downward water flow generates electricity with a hydraulic turbine, and water is pumped back to the upper reservoir using power from grid or RE sources, with an overall efficiency of 75-80%.

PSP Potential in India

The country has 5,745 large dams, which provide an excellent opportunity for developing PSP plants by placing them in between two large dams or by using one dam and a second reservoir on a hill-top in a manner.
In India, as per government estimates, has the potential of 103 gigawatt (GW) of PSP. Currently, India has around 4.7 gigawatt (GW) of installed capacity of PSPs, of which 3.3 GW is operational.

Significance:

It is conventionally used to stabilise the grid and maintain peak power. With the seasonal variability of renewable energy production, the importance of energy storage systems like battery storage and PSPs has assumed significance.
Operational cost per KwH is lower than that of battery storage systems.
PSP plants are highly useful options for the integration of Renewable Energy power with the power system.
The PSP plants will have a very low impact on biodiversity and involve very few resettlements and rehabilitation (R&R) challenges.

Issues:

Several issues have halted the growth of PSPs in India.
- Higher upfront cost
- High tariff of power used to pump water uphill,
- long gestation period