India’s flagship Pinnapuram Integrated Renewable Energy Storage Project (IRESP) in Andhra Pradesh continues to advance as one of the world’s most ambitious renewable energy developments, combining solar, wind and pumped-storage hydropower into a single dispatchable clean-energy platform. Developed by Greenko Group, the project has become a global reference for large-scale renewable integration.
Also noteworthy is the project’s role in delivering round-the-clock renewable power while supporting emerging green hydrogen, green ammonia and industrial decarbonization initiatives across India. The facility’s pumped-storage component has already achieved major commissioning milestones, positioning Pinnapuram as a cornerstone of India’s next-generation energy infrastructure. Its development is also mirrored by others in India including the recently commissioned 2.88 GWh GEON BESS in Khavda that was completed in a record five months since start of development.
Pinnapuram Integrated Renewable Energy Storage Project Fact Sheet
Developer: Greenko Group
Location: Pinnapuram Village, Kurnool District, Andhra Pradesh
Total Capacity: 5,230 MW
Pumped Storage Capacity: 1,680 MW
Solar Capacity: 3,000 MW. Planned expansion up to 4,000 MW
Wind Capacity: 550 MW. Expandable capacity up to 1,000 MW
Estimated Investment: US$4.2 billion
Project Concept: Schedulable Power on Demand (SPOD)
Storage Technology: Closed-loop pumped hydro energy storage
Principal PSP Designer: AFRY India / AFRY Group
Key Offtaker: Solar Energy Corporation of India in a 900 MW arrangement
Status: Advanced construction and commissioning phases
Strategic Use:
- Grid balancing
- Round-the-clock renewable power
- Green hydrogen production
- Green ammonia production
- Industrial decarbonization
- Energy storage for renewable integratiom
Current Completion Status
Solar and Wind Power Components: Completed and Operational. A significant portion of the planned 3,000-4,000 MW solar park and the 550-1,000 MW wind installations have been successfully synchronized with the grid.
Pumped Hydro Storage Component (1,680 MW): In Advanced Commissioning. The overall civil works, upper and lower reservoirs and underground tunnels are complete. Unit 1 of the hydro system achieved wet commissioning in late 2024. Subsequent units are being progressively rolled out to bring the storage system to full commercial scale.
Central Pooling Substation (CPSS): Completed. The intelligent energy platform required to pool and manage power from the solar, wind and hydro components simultaneously is fully operational.
Phased Commissioning Timeline
The hydro storage asset consists of eight total turbine units. This includes 6, 240 MW units and 2, 120 MW units designed to reach the maximum 1,680 MW threshold.
Initial Testing: Structural milestones like the wet commissioning of Unit 1 were successfully met.
Final Phased Commercial Operations Date (COD): The developer targets the final commercial integration of all remaining 120 MW and 240 MW generation and pumping units in consecutive operational windows through 2026.
Additionally, the project functions as a “closed-loop” off-stream project. This means it sits entirely separate from existing river networks. This setup also prevents seasonal river fluctuations from interfering with the tight timeline of testing and synchronizing the remaining units into the grid.
Engineering and Turbine Contractors
Principal Design Consultant: AFRY is the primary contractor responsible for the complete detailed design of the civil and hydro-mechanical works. AFRY also engineered the underground cavern complex, 7 distinct waterways, penstock pipes and the 9.84 km perimeter of rockfill dams forming the upper and lower reservoirs.
Hydro-Mechanical Equipment: Global clean energy technology provider Andritz Hydro was selected to supply the variable-speed reversible pump-turbines, motor-generators, and auxiliary electrical systems. These variable-speed systems allow the plant to fine-tune its power draw or generation dynamically. They also allow for compensation of sudden drops in wind or solar outputs.
World’s Largest Gigawatt-Scale Renewable Energy Project in India
Reported September 8, 2024 – One of Greenko’s projects in India is the Renewable Energy Project for Greenko’s Pinnapuram Integrated Renewable Energy Storage Project (IRESP). This is the largest Gigawatt-scale project in the world. It features different elements involved in the tenders are of solar, wind, and pumped storage type. The project is situated in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India and it seeks to provide renewable power that is reliable, schedulable and cheap.
Greenko possesses a great amount of experience in investing and constructing renewable energy generating facilities such as wind, solar and hydroelectric power plants indicating that the company is one of the major players in India’s green economy. This project is situated in Kurnool District of Andhra Pradesh. It is also one of the biggest steps towards implementation of renewable energy source mix with storage technology. This makes the project one of the biggest projects in the world.
It will be used for the storage as well as generation of solar and wind energy to support India’s large-scale renewable energy plan.
Pinnapuram Integrated Renewable Energy Storage Project at a Glance
Architect:Greenko Group
Constructor:Greenko is managing it with its own resources, though it has hired specialists for achieving the coordination of the wind and solar to compliment the pumped hydro storage systems.
Start Date:Construction on the project was in May 2022.
Cost:$3 billion
Location:This integrated project is situated in the Kurnool District-Andhra Pradesh.
Capacity of battery storage: The project employs a pumped hydro storage system with a 1. 2 GW capacity, not a typical battery.
Wind power generation: It’s equipped with 400 MW of wind power.
Solar generation: It also ensures the provision of 2 GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) plants
Significance
Some of the components incorporated in the Pinnapuram Integrated Renewable Energy Storage Project comprises of 8 GWh pumped hydro storage system and 3 GW of solar power. It also features 550 MW of wind capacity. This makes it very unique renewable energy project because it can store energy and supply the energy in the market as it is required.
The project also aims to reduce CO2 emission by 15 million tons per year. This is the same as reducing the emissions of three million cars.
Greenko’s plans are also more extensive; in building a 50 GWh energy cloud platform by 2025 and then expanding that to 100 by 2027. The company is also aiming at having developed 10 GW of green hydrogen production capacity by the year 2030.
Challenges
The construction of Greenko’s 23GW renewable energy storage project in Andhra Pradesh which was earlier scheduled to be completed by 2023 did not become operational by then due to the following reasons.
However, there were certain issues, mainly regarding the very nature of the project. It aimed at implementing two production systems with the use of solar energy, wind energy, and pumped storage hydropower facilities. These technologies were integrated in this project, particularly the large-scale hydro storage system; the pump storage which is 1. 68 GW makes up this project technically challenging. However, the coordination of the infrastructure needed to manage the 3GW solar and 550MW wind energy generation added to its timeline.
Once completed, the Pinnapuram Integrated Renewable Energy Storage Project will add to the recognition of India as a leading player in renewable power integration. It will also provide a roadmap in large scale energy storage systems for other nations to follow.
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