Greenko appoints electromechanical contractor for 1,440MW India pumped hydro project

Andritz will supply seven reversible pump units, comprising five 240MW units and two 120MW units at the 1,440MW long-duration energy storage (LDES) facility, with the company responsible for end-to-end delivery duties.

That includes designing, manufacturing, installing and commissioning the pumps, as well as main inlet valves and associated auxiliaries. The project, to be built in a village Madhya Pradesh’s Neemuch district uses Gandhi Sagar, an existing reservoir, as its lower reservoir, while a new reservoir will be created on higher ground.

It’s the latest project for the legacy PHES technology which still accounts for a large majority of the world’s installed energy storage capacity and the second Greenko has appointed Andritz to work on in India.

Greenko focuses on low carbon energy and infrastructure projects and has created a business model that it claims leverages digital technologies, low-cost renewable energy and pumped hydro storage to offer dispatchable power throughout the day and night and flatten out peaks in variable renewable generation from solar PV and wind.

One of its projects, in the Indian state of Andra Pradesh, was at the time of its award through government solicitation in 2018 the lowest cost renewables-plus-storage project tendered for anywhere in the world. That project began construction earlier this year (pictured above).

It has signed deals with numerous off-takers for its platform, including steel company Arcellor Mittal, with which it is co-developing a US$600 million wind and solar project paired with a nearby PHES plant.

Andritz said it will manufacture the equipment for the Gandhi Sagar project at sites operated by its local subsidiary in India.