DVC’s Investment Plan To 2030 Focus More On Solar, Pumped Storage

Kolkata based Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) on Friday announced that it plans to invest Rs 20,000 crore by 2030 to install nearly 4,000 MW of solar capacity.

DVC currently is a primarily thermal power firm, with 6540 MW of its existing installed generation capacity of 6,700 MW thermal. the corporation and its plans can have a significant impact on its primary staging ground, East India.

DVC expects to make investment worth Rs 50,000-60,000 crore by 2030 to enhance thermal, pump storage power plants and solar energy to take its total installed capacity to about 16,700 MW.

DVC Chairman S. Suresh Kumar made these announcements on the occasion of the 77th Foundation Day of the corporation, originally set up to manage the Damodar Valley Flooding in Bihar and Bengal.

it presently has only 14 MW installed solar capacity and is executing a 348 MW project in association with NTPC.

A 250MW/hour capacity of battery storage is also under consideration, added Kumar. Apart from the 4,000 MW solar power, the corporation plans to install two pump storage facilities in Logu Pahar in Jharkhand (1500 MW) and Panchet in West Bengal (1000 MW).The Panchet project is proposed to be a JV with the West Bengal government. Speaking about dues from Jharkhand, the DVC official said the old dues have come down to about Rs 1,000 crore, and the state is clearing the same.

The new investments will take DVC’s energy mix to almost 40% share for green energy, a trend we are seeing among multiple energy PSUs. Even Hydro focused PSU’s like SJVN, as already covered by SaurEnergy earlier, are shifting strongly towards solar in particular besides wind energy and green storage, to change their overall energy generation mix. these plans by PSU’s are critical especially in regions where private generators have not been as enthusiastic about investing, like East India and parts of North India.