Guidelines on pumped storage projects

The government released the final guidelines to promote development of pumped storage projects in the country as they are non-polluting and more environmentally friendly. The guidelines have been finalised after receiving suggestions from stakeholders, according to a power ministry notification. As per the guidelines, state governments may allot project sites to developers through various ways, including competitive bidding, tariff-based competitive bidding process and on nomination basis to CPSUs and state PSUs. The ministry said that Pumped Storage Projects (PSPs) provide the necessary scale of storage and have a long service life of more than 40-50 years, and results in a low cost of delivered energy over the life of the projects.