A prominent power and climate policy analyst has urged the Chief Ministers of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka to comprehensively reassess the rapid proliferation of large pumped storage projects in the ecologically fragile Western and Eastern Ghats. In a detailed representation, addressed to the three Chief Ministers with copies to the Prime Minister and the Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, analyst Shankar Sharma warned that the current trajectory of energy storage development risks irreversible ecological and social damage.
While acknowledging the importance of energy storage for India's renewable energy transition, Sharma cautioned that the present approach warrants urgent scrutiny. "There is a clear danger that an 'ostensibly' climate-friendly intervention in the electricity sector could impose disproportionately high and irreversible costs on natural ecosystems, local communities, water resources and the long-term economic interests of society," the letter stated. He emphasized that the concern is not against pumped storage technology itself, but rather the tendency to treat technical feasibility or proposed generating capacity as sufficient justification for proceeding without establishing overall societal desirability.
The representation highlights data indicating that the Central Electricity Authority has identified an enormous pumped storage potential in India, citing 320 projects with a combined potential of approximately 345 gigawatts. Maharashtra alone accounts for roughly 67.36 GW, while the Southern Region, principally shared by Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Karnataka, holds about 97.76 GW. Sharma stressed that these figures represent identified potential, not an established requirement for storage capacity or a commitment to construct all the projects, warning that unchecked development could lead to irreversible damage to the overall ecology of the Western and Eastern Ghats.
This ecological vulnerability is compounded by existing deforestation trends. According to the Forest Survey of India's State of Forest Report 2023, the combined forest and tree cover stands at merely 21.25 percent in Maharashtra, 24.52 percent in Karnataka, and 21.74 percent in Andhra Pradesh, all falling significantly short of the National Forest Policy objective of 33.33 percent. Sharma noted that allowing numerous large infrastructure projects involving forest diversion, habitat fragmentation, and disturbance of sensitive catchments would risk further weakening the ecological foundations of these states. A typical pumped storage project requires two reservoirs, extensive underground tunnels, access roads, transmission infrastructure, and muck disposal sites, leading to forest fragmentation, biodiversity loss, damage to headwater catchments, and geological instability.
The letter also raised fundamental concerns regarding the economic decision-making process for these numerous proposals, pointing out that credible alternatives such as Battery Energy Storage Systems are conspicuously absent from associated detailed project reports. Sharma specifically cited the 2,000 MW Sharavathi pumped storage project proposal in Karnataka as an example, arguing that a diligent cost-benefit analysis clearly demonstrates how battery storage technology holds multiple advantages over pumped storage in most cases. Furthermore, he referenced a discussion paper proposing a roadmap for a sustainable power policy for India by 2050, which suggests that growing electricity demand can be met through a Federation of Micro or Smart Grids without relying on high-impact components like large pumped storage projects, dam-based hydel plants, or high-voltage power lines.
Concluding his appeal, Sharma stressed that India's energy transition must be sustainable not only in terms of carbon emissions but also in terms of biodiversity, water resources, land use, social justice, and intergenerational equity. "The Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats are not vacant geographical spaces available for the construction of energy infrastructure. They are living ecological systems that sustain millions of people and provide indispensable services to the country," he wrote. He urged the state governments to initiate a coordinated policy that places ecological sustainability, constitutional rights, and climate change threats at the center of development decisions, asserting that energy security, ecological security, and community livelihood security must be evaluated together as essential components of long-term national development.
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