The Patgaon Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Project will be located in Maharashtra, India. (Credit: Varsha Deshpandey-Own work at commons.wikimedia.org)
The project will be developed across Vedganga River. (Credit: Anup Sadi-Own work at commons.wikimedia.org)
Patgaon Reservoir. (Credit: Akshaybapat4 at commons.wikimedia.org)

The Patgaon Pumped Storage Project is a proposed 2,100MW project by Adani Green Energy (AGEL) which will be constructed across Vedganga River in Kolhapur and Sindhudurg districts of Maharashtra, India.

AGEL has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Maharashtra on 28 June 2022 for the development of the project.

In August 2022, the company successfully submitted Scoping and Terms of Reference (TOR) approval application for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)/Environmental Management Plan (EMP) to the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MOEFCC), Government of India.

A Pre-Feasibility Study of the project was prepared for AGEL in July 2022. The project will be constructed with an estimated total project cost of $1bn.

With a total storage capacity of 12.6GWh, the upper reservoir of the project (Patgaon Reservoir) is situated across Vedganga River in Bhudargad Taluka of Kolhapur District and the lower reservoir with powerhouse will be developed near Anjiwade village of kudal Tehsil in Sindhudurg District of Maharashtra.

The Patgaon Reservoir is an existing reservoir which was constructed in 1998 for irrigation and the lower reservoir will be a new reservoir which will be constructed on a seasonal stream in the valley, about 400m below near Anjiwade village.

Patgaon Pumped Storage Project Location

The Patgaon Pumped Storage Project will be located in the state of Maharashtra, India and will cover an area of about 140.25 hectares (ha) of land.

The site of the project can be accessed by National highway (NH66), Vasoli-Anjiwade Road, by Sindhudurg Airport located 48km away from the site and by Kudal Railway Station situated 31km away from the site.

Patgaon Pumped Storage Project Details

The Patgaon Pumped Storage Project will consist of six units of 300MW each and two units of 150MW each and will have total storage capacity of 12,600MWh.

Consisting of two reservoirs, the project’s upper reservoir has gross volume of 105.26Mm3 or live 90.26Mm3. It has a historic minimum live volume of 17Mm3 before the arrival of monsoon.

The lower reservoir of the project will be constructed with a live volume of about 12.9Mm3. It will be be a 500m long dam having a maximum height of 57.5m.

For a rated discharge of 592.72m3/s, the project will generate power for six hours and its static heads will range between 390m and 441.1m.

The Patgaon Pumped Storage Project will have two intake towers in the Patgaon Reservoir. These towers will be followed by 230m long concrete twin low pressure tunnels, twin surge shafts, and twin 1380m/1481m long steel pressure tunnels divided into eight units: 2*150MW and 6*300MW.

The underground head race system (pressure tunnel to open shaft surface powerhouse near lower reservoir) with short tail race tunnels has been adopted for the project.

The draft tubes will combine to form three 500m long and 8m diameter concrete lined tunnels on the downstream side of the powerhouse. There will also be three outlet or intake towers in the lower reservoir.

Out of two head race conduits, one will support 1,200MW (4*300MW) and the other will support 900MW (2*300MW + 2*150MW) respectively.

The head race tunnels will be 11m and 10m in diameter and the steel lined shafts pressure tunnels will have 9m and 7.8m diameter which will reduce to 4.5m for single unit pressure shafts.

Power transmission and Infrastructure

The Pre-Feasibility Study has proposed that a QMDC 400kV transmission line will be used to connect the grid to 765kV MSETCL Substation at Kolhapur, Maharashtra (68km) and 400kV PGCL Substation at Mapusa, Goa (48km) for supply of power during pumping mode and power evacuation.

It will depend upon the terrain if the twin double circuit lines would be twin moose or quad moose high ampacity conductors.

Contractor Involved

The Pre-Feasibility Study of the Patgaon Pumped Storage Project has been prepared by Splash Power, an Indian company specialised in identification of near-ideal locations for pumped storage projects.

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