The Purulia Pumped Storage Project is a

pumped storage Pumping may refer to: * The operation of a pump, for moving a liquid from one location to another **The use of a breast pump for extraction of milk * Pumping (audio), a creative misuse of dynamic range compression * Pumping (computer systems), the ...

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

power plant, located at Purulia district of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

, India. The Ajodhya Hills offered suitable terrain for construction of upper and lower reservoirs. The scheme can supply a maximum power of .

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. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) provided of loan assistant for the project. 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.

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. 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

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Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

for solidarity in fight against

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the West Bengal grid load was expected to dropped by 1 GW. 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,

Hydropower Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to Electricity generation, produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by energy transformation, converting the Pot ...

facility across the country played vital role for maintaining grid frequency. Due to the increase in renewable power like solar and wind, the intermittency of power generation is increasing in India. Considering the future prospects another pumped storage projects at Turga (Purulia district, West Bengal) and Nilgiris (

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

) are in planning phase.

Capacity

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

References

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External links

Purulia Pumped Storage detail specification

Report-on-Pan-India-Lights-Off-Event-9-PM-9-Minutes-on-5th-April-2020
Rock-filled dams Dams completed in 2008 Energy infrastructure completed in 2008 Dams in West Bengal Pumped-storage hydroelectric power stations in India

Construction

Purpose

Capacity

See also

References

External links