Tata Power will tie up with its subsidiary Tata Power Renewable Energy Ltd (TPREL) , which in turn will bundle it with other energy sources — solar, wind and pumped hydro energy, and provide round-the-clock power to utilities and the commercial and industrial sector.
"This will provide round-the-clock power to utilities and group captive consumers of commercial and industrial segments and help meet their renewable energy obligations," said Sinha to ET.
Pumped hydro storage has come into focus in recent years as the intermittent nature of renewable energy projects has been a challenge for grid stability.
Pumped hydro storage, also known as pumped storage hydropower (PSH), is a type of hydroelectric energy storage. It stores energy in the form of gravitational potential energy by pumping water from a lower elevation reservoir to a higher one.
PSH plants require two water reservoirs at different elevations, typically ranging from 10 to 100 hectares, joined by a pipe with a pump and turbine.
In 2022, China ranked first in the world in terms of pumped storage hydropower capacity, with more than 45.8 gigawatts. Japan and the United States followed second and third respectively, with roughly 21.8 gigawatts and 19.3 gigawatts of capacity respectively.
Recently, India's premier Institute IISc researcher has unveiled that they have developed a sustainable water pumping system that requires zero electricity using low-head check dams and cascades of such dams along rivers, with turbine pumps installed to pump water without any electricity.
In India, there is a total of 97 GW of pumped hydro storage potential in India, with 40 GW in the western part of the country.
Earlier this month, NTPC India Ltd, India’s top power producer, is contemplating building a 3 GW pumped hydro storage project in Tamil Nadu.
Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited (TPREL) is a subsidiary of The Tata Power Company Limited and is one of the country's most significant renewable energy players. TPREL is a developer of renewable energy projects (including solar, wind, hybrid, round-the-clock (RTC), peak, floating solar, and storage systems including battery storage) that it owns, operates, and maintains.
As on date, TPREL's total renewable utility capacity is 9,012 MW* (PPA capacity is 7,626 MW) including 4,752 MW projects under various stages of implementation and its operational capacity is 4,260 MW, which includes 3,241 MW solar and 1,019 MW wind. Presently, the company's solar EPC portfolio is more than 12.8 GWp of ground-mount utilityscale, over 1.8 GW of rooftop and distributed ground-mounted systems, and over 1,00,000 solar water pumps. TPREL aims to provide energy access to millions of people across the country via its integrated green energy solutions.
Advertisements