Will supply power from Greenko’s ‘pumped hydro storage’ capacity in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan
Greenko, one of India’s larger renewable energy developers, has entered into a tie-up with the Adani group, a leading infrastructure conglomerate, under which Greenko will supply up to 6 GWhr of power the Adani group’s proposed industrial complex. The power will come from Greenko’s ‘pumped hydro storage’ capacity that is coming up in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
A similar deal was announced last month between Greenko and Ayana, a CDC-backed renewable energy company, based in Bengaluru. Here again, Greenko would supply 6 GWhr from its pumped hydro storage coming up at Pinnapuram, Andhra Pradesh.
‘Pumped hydro storage’ plants are those in which two reservoirs of water would be built, with a height difference between them. When the water flows down, it will be used to generate electricity. Once the lower reservoir is filled, the water will be pumped up to the upper one, completing the loop. Pumping up happen when electricity is available in surplus or cheap.
Typically, the water is sourced “one-time” from another, larger reservoir behind a dam. For instance, water for the Pinnapuram project is proposed to be sourced from the Gorakallu Reservoir one-time, with an arrangement to top-up any evaporation losses.
Since the power that comes from pumped hydro projects is non-fossil fuel based (green) and supplied round-the-clock, the Adani industrial complex will among the greenest industrial complexes in the world, says a press release from Greenko.
The Greenko group has an installed capacity of 7.3GW across wind, solar and hydro, spread over more than a hundred sites in various States. It also has 30 GWhr of energy storage projects under construction, as part of its plan to develop 100 GWhr of energy storage.