At a time when the Maha Vikas Aghadi government’s fate is uncertain and when Congress MP Rahul Gandhi is targeting PM Narendra Modi for helping Ambanis and Advani’s, the state energy department held by Congress Minister Nitin Raut on Tuesday signed MoU with Adani Green Energy (AGEL) for an investment of Rs 60,000 crore in the setting up o pumped storage projects with total generation capacity of 11,000 mw in five years. Raut said the proposed investment is a big development in the state’s non conventional energy and green energy sector.
The power will be supplied to the state run Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MahaVitaran). The proposed investment will generate 30,000 jobs. The MoU was inked in the presence of Raut, who was accompanied by the energy department principal secretary Dinesh Waghmare, Ajit Barodia, Senior Vice President and Akshay Mathur, Associate Vice President of AGEL. The state energy department deputy secretary Narayan Karad told the Free Press Journal, ‘’The sites of the pumped storage projects will be decided in consultation with the state water resources department. AGEL will make applications for the project sites and seek no objection certificate from the state water resources department. These projects are expected to come up in next five years and the power will be supplied to MahaVitaran.’’
This is the second major investment in the state energy sector after MahaVitaran signed MoU with Gurgaon based Renew Power Private Limited at the World Economic Forum in Davos for investments worth Rs 50,000 crore. The investment, set to be made over the next seven years, would provide employment to 30,000 people. Together, Maharashtra has received investment proposals worth Rs 1.10 lakh crore in the state energy sector.
According to the energy department sources, pumped storage power projects 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%.
Raut said these projects will be helpful especially during the power shortages in the wake of rising demand.
