New Delhi: The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has approved the detailed project report of two hydro-pumped storage plants (HPSPs) – 600MW Upper Indravati in Odisha’s Kalahandi district and 2,000MW Sharavathy in Karnataka – in record time, the Ministry of Power said Friday. To fast-track the concurrence process of HPSPs in line with ease of doing business drive of the Government of India (GoI), the CEA has further revised the guidelines to simplify the process for preparation of detailed project reports of HPSPs and its concurrence, it said.
According to the statement, the 600MW Upper Indravati HPSP in Odisha is being developed by Odisha Hydro Power Corporation Limited (a government of Odisha undertaking unit) and 2,000MW Sharavathy HPSP in Karnataka by Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (a unit of Karnataka government). “CEA has also received huge number of proposals of HPSPs (worth around 60GW), under Survey & Investigation, which are at various stages of preparation of detailed project report,” it said. After preparation of detailed project reports, these HPSPs will be uploaded by the developers on CEA website for concurrence under Section 8 of the Electricity Act, 2003. According to the Ministry of Power, the government has prioritised the development of energy storage systems, particularly PSPs, to ensure the energy security of the country. As per the National Electricity Plan (Generation), the installed capacity of energy storage systems including BESS is projected at 74GW by 2031-32. Under the revised guidelines, the developers are allowed to submit the detailed project reports of PSPs online with the completion of first 13 chapters. Some of the chapters have been dispensed with. Now there is no mandatory requirement of approval of cost and financial chapters. These chapters need to be submitted only for reference and record to meet the requirement of the Act.