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The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has given its approval to two Hydro Pumped Storage Plants (PSPs), which include the 600 MW Upper Indravati in Odisha being developed by OHPC Ltd and 2000 MW Sharavathy in Karnataka being developed by KPCL, the Union Ministry of Power announced on Friday. 

The approval given to Odisha government-owned OHPC and Karnataka government-owned KPCL has been fast-tracked to expedite the projects.

CEA has also received a huge number of proposals for Hydro PSPs (around 60 GW), under Survey & Investigation for the preparation of DPRs (detailed project reports). All the developers are at various stages of preparation for DPR. After the preparation of DPRs, these PSPs will be uploaded by the developers on the CEA website for concurrence by the CEA, according to the official statement.

To fast-track the concurrence process of PSPs in line with the Centre’s ease of doing business drive, CEA has further revised the guidelines to simplify the process for preparation of DPRs of PSPs and cut short the time required for its concurrence, the official statement said.

The earlier Checklist of Documents required for the examination of various aspects of DPRs has been shortened to make it easier for applicants, and the developers are now allowed to submit the DPR online with the completion of the first 13 chapters. Some of the chapters have also been dispensed with to make the DPR shorter.

The mandatory requirement of approval of Cost & Financial Chapters has been done away with and these chapters need to be submitted only for reference and record.

For close loop Hydro PSP, there is no requirement to submit the alternative location plan for the reservoir as was the case earlier.

The requirement of sending the DPR for re-examination has also been scrapped, which is expected to save around a 4 to 5-month period in the concurrence process.

Besides, the process for giving the early excavation permission at the risk and cost of the developers has been streamlined so that advance action can be taken by the developers to start the work at the site. This is expected to save around a 6 to 8-month period in the execution of the project. The developers have also been advised to carry out the investigations in time and submit the reports to the appraising agencies so that parallel activities can be done by the appraising agencies. This is also expected to save around a 1 to 2-month period.

The government has prioritised the development of Energy Storage Systems, particularly PSPs to ensure the energy security of the country. As per the Nation Electricity Plan (Generation), the installed capacity of Energy Storage Systems, including BESS, is projected as 74 GW by 2031-32.