The Government of India has taken various initiatives to promote development of hydro pumped storage projects (PSPs), viz :-

 

1. Budgetary support towards cost of enabling infrastructure, i.e. roads, bridges, ropeways, railway siding, communication infrastructure and transmission line from power house to the nearest pooling point, including upgradation of pooling substations of State or Central Transmission Utility.

 

2. The Ministry of Power in April, 2023 issued guidelines to promote development of PSPs. These guidelines provide various methods of allotment of PSP sites, exemption from free power obligation/Local Area Development Fund, rationalization of Environmental Clearance process and utilization of exhausted coal mines etc.

 

3. Waiver of Inter State Transmission System (ISTS) charges for PSPs for which construction work is awarded on or before 30.06.2028.

 

4. Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has published revised Guidelines for formulation and concurrence of Detailed Project Reports (DPR) of PSPs. Under the revised guidelines, the timeline for concurrence of DPR has been reduced from 90 days to 50 days for all type of PSPs.

 

5. CEA has launched the “Jal Vidyut DPR” portal for monitoring Survey and Investigation (S&I) activities of HEPs and PSPs. The portal enables real-time tracking of workflows and pending tasks across appraising agencies and developers, helping to identify and address delays effectively.

 

6. To provide a transparent, fair, standardized procurement framework based on open competitive bidding with appropriate risk-sharing between various stakeholders, Ministry of Power has notified TBCB guidelines for procurement of storage capacity/ stored energy from pumped storage plants.

 

7. Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC), on 18.05.2023, has notified to appraise PSPs under B2 category subject to certain conditions.

 

8. The MoEF&CC, on 14.08.2023, issued specific TOR for the proposals involving off steam PSPs wherein collection of baseline data for one season (other than monsoon) is prescribed for off steam closed loop PSPs and collection of baseline data for two seasons (pre-monsoon & post-monsoon) is prescribed for off stream open loop PSPs.

 

9. The MOEF&CC, in August 2024, has allowed the provisions for drilling investigations in forest area extended to PSPs at par with mining activities.

 

As on 30.06.2025, the status of hydro pumped storage projects (PSPs) is as under:

 

1. 10 number of PSPs with aggregate installed capacity of 6.2 GW have been commissioned.
2. 8 number of PSPs with aggregate capacity of 8.5 GW are under construction.
3. 5 number of PSPs with aggregate capacity of 5.8 GW have been concurred by CEA.
4. 46 number of PSPs with aggregate capacity of 64.8 GW are under Survey & Investigation for preparation of DPRs.

 

This information was given by the Minister of State for Power, Shri Shripad Yesso Naik, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

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SK

(Release ID: 2149363)