A.P.’s largest integrated renewable energy project likely to become operational by June

Greenko Group's 1,680 MW Pumped Storage Hydropower Project in Kurnool is nearing completion and will be fully operational in a few months, along with a solar and wind power project, making it India's largest integrated renewable energy project.

Construction of the 1,680 Megawatt (MW) Pumped Storage Hydropower Project (PSHP) by Greenko Group at Pinnapuram here has reached an advanced stage. It is set for ‘dry commissioning’ by the end of March and is likely to be made fully operational in another three months or a little later, according to a Greenko engineer involved in the works.

Austria-based Andritz Hydro Pvt. Ltd. that caters to hydropower projects in India and the southeast Asian region with its distinct ‘water to wire’ concept, is briskly carrying out the electro-mechanical work of installing eight units (6x240 MW and 2x120W). A couple of generator-reversible turbine sets have already been put in place and are through the final fabrication processes.

Completion of the hydrological and other civil works by Megha Engineering & Infrastructure Limited (MEIL) is around the corner. The construction of upper and lower reservoirs with 1.30 TMCFT each of live storage capacity and 0.50 TMCFT and 0.40 TMCFT of dead storage respectively is almost over. The water source is the Gorakallu reservoir.

This PSHP along with a 3,000 MW solar and a 550 MW wind power project (coming up in Kurnool and Nandyal districts) constitute the Pinnapuram Integrated Renewable Energy Project (PREP).

Of the 3,000 MW solar component, generation of 700 MW is likely to begin by the end of March, 2024, and 300 MW of wind capacity is poised to be available around the same time.

Greenko is the developer of Pinnapuram IREP, which will be India’s largest with an aggregate capacity of 5,230 MW. It is conceived as the world’s largest Gigawatt Scale integrated project with solar, wind and pumped storage components that can supply schedulable power on demand.

New & Renewable Energy Development Corporation of AP Vice-Chairman & Managing Director S. Ramana Reddy told The Hindu that PSHPs were the most commonly used commercially viable large-scale electricity storage technology being used around the world.