Author: PPD Team Date: 21/03/2025
The joint venture of Hindustan Construction Company Limited and Tata Projects Limited has secured a Rs 24.7 billion contract from Tata Power Company Limited for the construction of the 1,000 MW Bhivpuri Pumped Hydro Storage Project in Maharashtra.
The project will be developed at Karjat with a total estimated cost of Rs 56.66 billion, financed 75 per cent by debt and 25 per cent by equity. The project received environmental clearance from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in August 2024, while the Central Electricity Authority approved it in September 2023.
The contract includes civil and hydro-mechanical components such as the coffer dam, intake structures at the existing Thokarwadi reservoir, head race tunnels, penstocks, surge shaft, pressure shaft, powerhouse, and tail race tunnel. A new lower reservoir with a geomembrane-faced rockfill dam will also be constructed, along with associated infrastructure and interfaces for electro-mechanical works.
The project will use the Thokarwadi reservoir as the upper reservoir with a gross storage capacity of 12.485 TMC. A 1,899-meter-long rockfill embankment dam will be built to create the lower reservoir with a gross capacity of 0.163 TMC. The scheme is designed to generate 800 MW from four units of 200 MW each, operating at a rated head of 520.4 meters with a discharge of 173.2 cumec. An additional 200 MW will be generated from two units of 100 MW each, operating at a rated head of 516.6 meters with a discharge of 43.6 cumec.
The total land required for the project is 117.41 hectares, including 20.15 hectares of forest land and 97.26 hectares of non-forest land, of which 93.82 hectares belong to Tata Power. The Bhivpuri pumped hydro project is expected to enhance energy storage capacity and contribute to Maharashtra’s renewable energy infrastructure.