Andhra Pradesh: Govt plans PHS plants to support renewables

In what is described to be a gamechanger in stabilizing the power grid, the state government has set its focus on Pumped Hydro Storage (PHS) plants.
Since supplies from solar and wind power plants are unpredictable and not completely reliable, it would result in fluctuations in the grid’s stability. In order to overcome these disadvantages, the grid needs a reliable fall back arrangement to compensate for variability of wind and solar power and to store excess or unusable energy from renewable sources, and therefore allow for better integration of these types of renewable energy into the grid.
This is where PHS comes into the picture. In view of the expected growth in the share of renewable energy, the state government is setting up PHSs to bring balance to the grid.
The state government has decided to promote Pumped Hydro Storage (PHS) power projects at all feasible locations both on river and off-river to generate power to balance the variable renewable energy power and to meet the peak energy demand.
Energy minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy said that the state government has decided to promote renewable energy projects on multiple grounds–meeting growing energy demand, attracting investments, providing 24×7 power supply and maintaining grid balance. He said that RE power projects would help increase tax revenue by attracting huge private investment.
In the normal course, the PHS work as conventional hydro power stations, but when they are not producing power, they are used as pumping stations that pump water from low level reservoir to the high level reservoir. PHS is hydel power, which is free from the effects of environmental hazards, thus curbing air and water pollution, easily adaptable to automation, remotely controllable and allows flexibility in operation schedules, said energy secretary Dr Nagulapalli Srikanth.