SMEC to provide engineering services for 500-MW Kundah Pumped Storage in India
Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Limited (MEIL) has engaged design and engineering firm SMEC to provide detailed engineering and project management services on the 500-MW Kundah Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Project in India.
State agency Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Ltd. (TANGEDCO) is the project proponent and asset owner.
The project, in the Nilgiris hills of the Tamil
Nadu State, will provide peaking benefits by using the existing reservoir at
Porthimund as the upper reservoir and Emerald as the lower reservoir. The
powerhouse will contain four 125-MW pump-turbine motor-generator units.
“This project is one of the largest pumped
storage electricity generating schemes in Tamil Nadu,” says Neeta Arora, director
– SMEC Design Centre (India). “The Indian government has committed to a
significant increase in power system flexibility, ensuring grid stability and
avoiding power shortages. This provides a great opportunity for further
hydropower development in the region.
“Sometimes referred to as the world’s ‘water battery,’ pumped hydropower
storage provides a more sustainable source of renewable energy and increasingly
supports the needs of changing power systems. Pumped storage projects currently
account for 94% of installed global energy storage capacity.”
According
to the International Hydropower Association’s 2020 Hydropower Status Report, India
has overtaken Japan as the world’s fifth largest hydropower producer, with its
total installed capacity now standing at more than 50 GW.
