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India: Govt Identifies Five CIL Mines for Pump Storage Power Projects

The government has identified five abandoned mines under the aegis of Western Coalfields, a subsidiary of Coal India to convert these into pump storage projects. It is carrying out a survey of these mines to see how many can be utilized for such projects.

 

Moreover, the government is targeting de-coaled mines in Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh to set up these projects and expects to complete the survey of remaining mines in two months. The business model like engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contracts or public-private partnership (PPP) could be set up for developing pump storage plants.

 

Coal India’s consultancy firm, Central Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDI) has also taken up research and survey of de-coaled mines suitable for PSP projects. More than 200 de-coaled mines with considerable land area are available in the country.

 

A recent report by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) had recommended that discarded mines could be used as hydro storage and enable development of PSPs. Renewables-plus-pumped hydro storage potentially produce cheaper power than new thermal power plants.

 

As the country envisages addition of 500 GW of RE capacity by 2030, hydro power remains one of the most suited renewable energy source. The country’s total pump storage capacity stands at 4.7 GW, as per government data available.

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