Purulia Pumped Storage Power Station

The Purulia Pumped Storage Project is a pumped storage hydroelectric power plant, located at Purulia district of West Bengal, India. The Ajodhya Hills offered suitable terrain for construction of upper and lower reservoirs. The scheme can supply a maximum power of 900-megawatt (1,200,000 hp).

Purulia Pumped Storage Project
Upper reservoir of Purulia Pumped Storage Project
Purulia Pumped Storage Power Station is located in West Bengal
Purulia Pumped Storage Power Station
Location of Purulia Pumped Storage Project in West Bengal
CountryIndia
LocationBaghmundi, Purulia district, West Bengal
Coordinates23°11′53″N 86°05′55.5″E
PurposePower
StatusOperational
Construction began2002 (2002)[1]
Opening date2008 (2008)
Construction costEstimated ₹2,500 crore (equivalent to ₹36 billion or US$450 million in 2023)[2]
Owner(s)West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company
Upper dam and spillways
Type of damRock-fill dam
Height65 m[3]
Length800 m
Upper reservoir
Total capacity13,300 acre⋅ft (16,400,000 m3)[4]
Active capacity10,840 acre⋅ft (13,370,000 m3)
Maximum water depth22 m
Normal elevationLow 494 m - High 516 m
Lower dam and spillways
Type of damRock-fill dam
Height95 m[3]
Length310 m
Lower reservoir
Total capacity13,987 acre⋅ft (17,253,000 m3)[4]
Active capacity11,736 acre⋅ft (14,476,000 m3)
Maximum water depth37 m
Normal elevationLow 300 m - High 337 m
Power Station
Commission date2008 (2008)
TypePumped-storage
Hydraulic head177 m
Pump-generators4 × 225-megawatt (302,000 hp) Francis pump-turbine
Installed capacity900-megawatt (1,200,000 hp)
Overall efficiency77.80%
Storage capacity6 hours[5]
Website
WBSEDCL Purulia Pumped Storage Project (PPSP)

Construction

The project is constructed on Kistobazar nullah which is a tributary of Sobha nullah in Ajodhya Hills. The project was planned to be commissioned in 2002-03, but litigations during tender stage and difficulties in getting clearance for forested land caused delays to the project.[6] Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) provided ₹2,272 crore (equivalent to ₹33 billion or US$410 million in 2023) of loan assistant for the project.[2]

The local villagers protested against the project, as the villagers alleged massive loss of vegetation in the area and hundreds of villagers allegedly lost their livelihoods.[7]

Purpose

The objective of project is to meet load demand by producing power through the turbines at the peak load time and utilize surplus power available of the system during off peak time by pumping the water to upper reservoir, thus achieving the flatter load demand curve and maintaining the frequency.[8][9]

It is operated not only to help meet the peak loads but also as a short term operating reserve (STOR), providing a fast response to short-term rapid changes in power demand, both hike and drop, or sudden loss of power generating stations. On 5 April, 2020 when people switched off their lights at 9 PM by request of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for solidarity in fight against COVID-19 pandemic, the West Bengal grid load was expected to dropped by 1 GW.[10] While the national grid load was estimated to drop by 12 - 14 GW, far from the estimate the national grid power demand was dropped 31 GW in a span of 25 minutes. Out of 31,089 MW of power drop 17,543 MW of power was adjusted by hydro power facility across the country, While Purulia pumped storage adjusted about 700 MW of power drop by ramping down its generation to zero,[10][11] Hydropower facility across the country played vital role for maintaining grid frequency.[12]

Due to the increase in renewable power like solar and wind, the intermittency of power generation is increasing in India.[13] Considering the future prospects another pumped storage projects at Turga (Purulia district, West Bengal)[14] and Nilgiris (Tamil Nadu) are in planning phase.[15][4]

Capacity

The installed capacity is 900 MW (4*225 MW).

Unit Number Date of Commissioning [16] Installed Capacity (MW) Type Status
1 31 January, 2008 225 Francis pump-turbine Running
2 06 February, 2008 Running
3 12 November, 2007 Running
4 10 October, 2007 Running

See also

References
  1. Sandrp (2019-03-02). "DEVASTATING DEVELOPMENTS IN AYODHYA HILLS". SANDRP. Archived from the original on 2022-03-23. Retrieved 2022-03-23.
  2. "Welcome to WBSEDCL". 2022-03-23. Archived from the original on 2022-03-23. Retrieved 2022-03-23.
  3. "Purulia Pumped Storage, India - Our Projects | Encardio Rite". www.encardio.com. Archived from the original on 2022-03-25. Retrieved 2022-03-25.
  4. "PURULIA PUMP STORAGE PROJECT & ITS ROLE IN RES INTEGRATION" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-01-12. Retrieved 2022-03-23.
  5. Sharma, Atul; Shukla, Amritanshu; Aye, Lu (2018-06-29). Low Carbon Energy Supply: Trends, Technology, Management. Springer. p. 324. ISBN 978-981-10-7326-7.
  6. "Purulia Pumpde Storage Scheme". www.infraline.com. Archived from the original on 2022-03-28. Retrieved 2022-03-28.
  7. Singh, Shiv Sahay (2020-02-28). "Tribals to heighten protest over Ajodhya Hills hydel project". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived from the original on 2020-02-28. Retrieved 2022-03-28.
  8. Reporter, B. S. (2008-04-07). "Purulia's storage power project to help tide deficit". Business Standard India. Archived from the original on 2022-03-26. Retrieved 2022-03-26.
  9. Sharma, RK Sharma | TK (2003). A Textbook Of Water Power Engineering. S. Chand. p. 104. ISBN 978-81-219-2230-2.
  10. Sengupta, Debjoy. "Purulia Pump Storage Plant to save West Bengal from grid crash on Sunday 9 PM as 1 GW demand vanishes". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 2022-03-23. Retrieved 2022-03-23.
  11. "Report-on-Pan-India-Lights-Off-Event-9-PM-9-Minutes-on-5th-April-2020" (PDF). pp. 24, 64. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-01-20. Retrieved 2022-03-23.
  12. www.ETEnergyworld.com. "9 Minutes of Action – How the power grid was managed on April 5 - ET EnergyWorld". ETEnergyworld.com. Archived from the original on 2022-01-07. Retrieved 2022-03-23. Without a doubt, hydro power played the leading role, with gas generation providing the support for maintaining grid frequency.
  13. Ramachandran, Narayan (2021-02-02). "Time to focus on power storage rather than only its generation". mint. Retrieved 2022-03-25.
  14. "W. Bengal plans to set up pumped storage power plant in Purulia". www.thehindubusinessline.com. 27 September 2012. Retrieved 2022-03-25.
  15. "TN plans largest hydro project in Nilgiris by submerging several acres of forest". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2022-03-23.
  16. "WBSEDCL Annual Report 2017-18" (PDF). Archived from the original on 2022-03-23. Retrieved 2022-03-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
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