With increasing renewable energy capacity additions in India to meet the target of 500 GW by 2030, grid reliability and stability is of paramount importance. Storage capacity helps maintain a stable grid as the variable output of renewables increases. Pumped storage power plants have already proven to be the most sustainable source of energy storage, making an important contribution to a clean energy future.
In India in particular, pumped storage technology will play an important role in meeting future energy demand. India is currently building several large, pumped storage power stations. ANDRITZ, with its technological know-how, is well equipped to take on this challenge and support the country in the years to come to meet this challenge.
The Indian government takes the need for energy storage very seriously with regard to the expansion of RE capacity in the power grid and continuously monitors trends and developments and adapts India''s energy policy accordingly. ANDRITZ is actively involved in advising the government on technical, policy, fiscal, and regulatory issues related to energy storage policy.
India aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2070, with an interim target of 50% renewable energy by 2030. As pumped storage power plants could be a key technology for India''s renewable energy future, the Ministry of Power, Government of India has issued guidelines for their introduction in 2023. The new guidelines create a much-needed framework for the development of new pumped storage facilities across the country and align the government''s efforts with those of India''s states.
ANDRITZ is a pioneer of this technology with a total installed capacity of about 40 GW around the globe. Since the first projects in Europe more than 100 years ago ANDRITZ has been one of the world''s leading specialists in pumped storage technology.
ANDRITZ''s first pumped storage project in India was Kadamparai (4 x 100 MW). Projects like Panchet (1 x 40 MW) and the first private pumped storage plant Bhira (1 x 150 MW) represent the commitment and decades of experience of ANDRITZ in India.
Currently, ANDRITZ is executing India''s first fully integrated renewable energy project (IRES) where it is supplying the electro-mechanical equipment for the Pinnapuram PSP (1,680 MW) located in Andhra Pradesh. Further, the company has also received a contract for the Gandhi Sagar PSP in Madhya Pradesh with an installed capacity of 1,440 MW, which is expandable to 1,680 MW. These projects are being developed by Greenko, one of India''s largest independent power producers and the leading energy solution provider in the changing energy landscape of India.
ANDRITZ is in a position to meet India''s future energy demand with the full range of products and services. With two local state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Mandideep and Prithla, ANDRITZ has additional excellent competencies and know-how for pump turbine components, motor generators, control and protection, excitation, and digital governors specifically for the Indian hydropower market.
Pumped storage hydropower or pumped hydroelectric storage is to date one of the most proven techno-economic solutions for long-term storage of energy. The worldwide installed pumped storage capacity is more than 165 GW and represents practically the entire storage capacity of the world.
Pumped storage power plants use gravity to generate electricity with water that has previously been pumped from a lower source into an upper reservoir. During periods of low demand, the water is pumped into the higher reservoir (charge/recharge). When demand is high, the water is then released to drive a turbine in a powerhouse and feed electricity into the grid (discharge).
There are two main types of pumped storage power plants:
Today, the focus is on smooth and stable operation, as well as an extended operating range, dynamic operation, and high reliability and flexibility. This is despite the need for frequent mode changes, rapid load changes and quick switching between pumping and generating. Improved structural integrity of the units ensures a long service life.
Based on the specification / configuration of motor generation, following technical concepts are available from ANDRITZ:
Pumped storage could continue to make a significant contribution to a clean sustainable energy future. Pumped storage could also be more than just a back-up for intermittent renewable energy sources and additional grid services. With its operational flexibility, pumped storage offers a wide range of benefits and plays a vital role in local and regional water and energy programs. However, adaptation of appropriate market structures and regulatory frameworks is essential for further development and growth.
Pumped storage has a lot of benefits:
Pumped storage technology enables hydropower operators to respond quickly to fluctuations in electricity supply and demand. Utilities are offered a cost-effective way to integrate variable energy sources such as wind and solar into the grid. Pumped storage is the most important and economical solution for large-scale energy storage available today.
ANDRITZ Hydro in New Delhi is a fully owned subsidiary of ANDRITZ HYDRO GmbH in Austria.
Pumped storage hydropower has a vital role to play in future green grids, providing the storage and balancing services to keep energy supply stable and reliable. But until now, these services have been undervalued, writes IHA Chief Executive Officer Eddie Rich.
Pumped storage hydropower accounts for almost 90 per cent of the planet''s installed global energy storage capacity. As more wind and solar power comes on to electricity grids around the world, we need more energy storage technologies like pumped hydro to ensure continued electricity supply when the sun doesn''t shine or the wind doesn''t blow, without falling back on fossil fuels. At IHA we call this the ignored crisis within the energy crisis.
India has assessed that it needs at least 18.8 GW of pumped storage hydropower capacity to support the planned integration of wind and solar into India''s grid by 2032, and potentially more if other energy storage systems are not financially viable. The Indian Government has also recently revised its figure of pumped storage hydropower potential from 96 GW to 106 GW.
Having identified the need and the potential, the next step is to create the market to make these projects viable.
India''s new Draft Guidelines to Promote Development of Pump Storage Projects set out the financial mechanisms and policies to help make this happen by placing a financial value on the reliability and flexibility of this technology (rather than just its electricity generation) and thus remunerating project developers and operators appropriately. Additionally, the Guidelines set out potential tax and land exemptions that may also help to improve the financial viability of pumped hydro projects.
India''s Proposed Market Reforms for the Guidelines are an excellent example of how to value the economic benefit of pumped hydro and the policies to better grow it.
There is also a focus on innovation. The guidelines explore the use of exhausted mines as potential pumped storage sites and how India''s green sovereign bonds could be issued for the development of pumped storage projects.
In addition to the Draft Guidelines, India have also published an Energy Storage Obligation in July 2022 which creates a demand for the technology by indicating the target percentage that distribution companies will need to procure of wind and solar through pumped storage and battery storage from 2023-2030. In 2021, they waived inter-state transmission charges for wind and solar generation for pumped hydro, and provided budgetary support towards cost of Enabling Infrastructure, such as roads and bridges, for hydropower and pumped storage projects.
The International Hydropower Association (IHA) applauds the development of these Draft Guidelines and congratulates the Indian Ministry of Power for its vision and leadership in the pumped storage space. We encourage countries around the world to look at these innovative proposed guidelines as a model to enable the necessary growth of pumped storage hydropower.
In November 2020, IHA set up the International Forum on Pumped Storage Hydropower. The Forum brought together 13 governments, including India, and over 70 organisations from around the world, to create recommendations for how pumped hydro development can be sped up and its role recognised in the clean energy transition.
One of the Forum''s deliverables ''Pump it up: Recommendations for urgent investment in pumped storage hydropower to back the clean energy transition'', identified the need for providers of essential grid, storage and flexibility services to be renumerated for all the services they provide and I discussed it with Hon R K Singh, India''s Minister of Power, in Delhi in October.
This publication is a vital tool for unlocking the potential role pumped storage hydropower can play in the clean energy transition. I encourage policymakers to regard it as such when plotting their roadmaps to net zero.
India is not the only country making swift progress in enabling the development of pumped storage. In New South Wales, Australia, a $44.8 million funding package was announced in September 2022 to unlock the development of five new pumped storage projects with a combined capacity of nearly 1.75 GW. This funding will go towards pre-investment activities, including feasibility studies and developing a business case for projects.
A month later, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced an ambitious plan to develop the world''s largest pumped storage project, set to provide 5 GW of installed capacity and 24 hour energy storage to the state grid.
It is clear from these cases in Australia and with India''s draft guidelines that there are ways to get pumped storage hydropower development over the line. They all follow the same three steps:
About India pumped hydro storage
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