Centre paves way for Bhavali renewable project | Mumbai news

Mumbai: The union environment ministry’s expert appraisal committee (EAC) on river valley and hydroelectric projects has paved the way forward for a major renewable energy facility in the state, the 1500MW Bhavali Pumped Storage facility at Igatpuri. The Centre has granted the project terms of reference (ToR), which will allow the project proponent, JSW Neo Energy, to carry out an environmental impact assessment (EIA) to gauge its ecological footprint, which includes the diversion of 212 hectares of forest land in Thane and Nashik districts.

The EAC, in April, had denied ToR for the project on technical grounds but sanctioned the same on May 9. An official with JSW Neo Energy, seeking anonymity, said, “The ministry had sought further details on the ecological aspects of the project, which we submitted. We will conduct an EIA assessment as per the ToR, which includes carrying out a detailed study of the project’s impact on water and land ecology in the project area, which will be classified into high and low impact zones.” The spokesperson emphasised that the project is “critically site-specific” since it requires a particular topography with nearby water availability.

The site of the project is located at Jamunde village, about 50kms away from Nashik district headquarters, and is easily approachable from Mumbai using National Highway-160 via Shahapur. The project is expected to net the Maharashtra government 1,325 crore per year in revenue from the sale of electricity, as per publicly available documents. The total project cost has been estimated at 5,723 crore.

The project will consist of two water reservoirs created at different elevations, with a turbine between the two to generate power as water is discharged over it. The water will then be pumped back from the lower reservoir to the upper reservoir. The water for the project is proposed to be drawn on a one-time basis from the nearby Bhavali dam in Igatpuri, and to make up for evaporation losses as and when required either on a quarterly, semi-annually, or annual basis.

On May 2, the state forest department received a proposal from JSW Energy PSP, a wholly-owned subsidiary of JSW Neo Energy, to divert 212 hectares of land for the project. As per a cost-benefit analysis, the net present value (NPV) of the land has been calculated at about 24.5 crore. The forest land proposed for diversion lies within the revenue boundaries of Jamunde village, Nashik (62.42 hectares), and Kalbondhe and Kothale villages, Thane (150.23 hectares). The total number of trees to be cut for the project will be determined during the EIA study.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the project was signed between the industries department of Maharashtra and JSW Neo Energy on September 14, 2021, after the initial site was proposed by the state government. The proposal was first considered by the union environment ministry’s expert appraisal committee for terms of reference (ToR) in December last year.

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