Unleashing Potential of Pumped storage plants in Kerala

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shineseb
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Unleashing Potential of Pumped storage plants in Kerala

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I had written an article in last july on this topic(I have received mixed feeling when I talk about PSP and people misunderstand with pumping at sengulam and vadakepuzha). We had a very good session on pumped storage organized by KSEB Ltd and CET on 25-26 April-16. I hope it ignited minds of engineers of KSEB Ltd in a larger sense.

A literature review conducted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) in 2011, of numerous energy sources CO2 emissions per unit of electricity generated, found that the CO2 emission values that fell within the 50th percentile(below which 50% of the observations may be found) of all total life cycle emissions studies were as follows.
carbon.png
Hydropower is clean energy
Hydropower is one of the best generating options. In fact, a complete life-cycle assessment shows that its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are very low.
For instance, a hydropower plant with a reservoir(considering the data availble by analysing the worst conditions) emits 10 grams of carbon dioxide (CO2) per kilowatthour produced, the same quantity as wind power. Solar power, generated via photovoltaic panels, emits four times more GHGs, and a coal-fired power plant produces 100 times more GHG emissions than a hydropower plant.
Actually, Bhutan is one of the very few countries on Earth to lay claim to being a carbon sink, meaning it has negative carbon emissions. This means that the country's forests absorb more carbon dioxide every year than its factories and other sources of pollution emit.

Close to 75% of all electricity generated in Bhutan is exported to India. This provides cheap power to India (the price of this electricity is governed by agreements with India) and valuable revenues and foreign currency to Bhutan. Hydropower exports provide more than 40% of Bhutan’s revenues, and constitute 25% of its GDP. Another 25% contribution to the GDP comes in form of hydropower infrastructure construction[2].
No wonder both the countries see this as a win-win situation. In 2006, India and Bhutan signed an agreement “concerning cooperation in the field of hydroelectric power”, whereby India agreed to import at least 5000 MW of power from Bhutan. In just three years after this, Bhutan pushed for acceleration, and a Protocol to the 2006 Agreement was signed between the two countries in 2009, wherein India agreed to support Bhutan to create an installed hydro capacity of 10,000 MW by 2020, and import all the surplus electricity. This is the basis for Bhutan’s ambitious 10/20 program, that is, to create 10,000 MW of capacity by the year 2020.
This capacity is expected to come from 10 mega projects. Out of these, three – 1200 MW Punatsangchu-I, 1020 MW Punatsangchu-II and 720 MW Mangdechhu – are under construction. The foundation stone for the 600 MW Kholongchhu was laid by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Bhutan in June 2014. The rest, which are at various stages of development are the 540 MW Amochhu Reservoir project, 570 MW Wangchu Run-of-the-River project[3], 180 MW Bunakha Reservoir project, the 2640 MW Kuri Gongri Reservoir project , the 770 MW Chamkharchhu-I HEP (Hydro-Electric Power) project and the 2560 MW Sankosh Reservoir project.
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