Pumped storage power plant planned in Sharavathi

 To overcome the power crisis, the Energy department has chalked out a plan to create a 1,200-MW pumped storage plant in Sharavathi, Shivamogga district.

The government has already issued orders for the Rs 5,000-crore project that can ensure power for a full season.

The Energy department will soon appoint consultants to work out the details of the project, P Ravi Kumar, additional chief secretary of the department, told DH.

He said this will be a first-of-its-kind project in Karnataka and the idea has been drawn from Kadamparai Hydroelectric Pumped Storage Power Plant in Malaiyandipattanam, Tamil Nadu, and Purulia Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Power Project, West Bengal.

The idea of pump storage is to use the excess energy. At present, the state has excess energy because of which generating units like the Ballari Thermal Power Corporation’s third unit, Raichur Thermal Power Station’s two units and one unit of Udupi Power Corporation Limited have been shut down.

There are also times when there is shortage of power. So, the department has decided not to shut down units, but put to use the excess energy generated. Under this project, the excess energy generated will be used to pump water to a tank at a higher altitude and stored. The stored water will be pumped and power will be generated when there is a crisis, he explained.

The department has planned to construct a large overhead tank to store the Sharavathi river water, which presently flows into the sea. “The eco-system will not be hampered and this project is different from the proposal of the state to make Jog Falls a perennial waterfall,” he said.

Work on this will start this year-end and will be completed by 2021. It should take care of the power demand till 2030. The aim of the plant is to store sufficient energy to meet the power demand of one season as the maximum demand in summer goes up to 10,500 MW, Kumar said.