Corrections

Every number on this site comes from a document I can point to:

Spotted a mistake, or have a document I should see? Write to daredavil239804@gmail.com with the page, the claim and, if you can, a source. I reply within 7 days and note every fix on the page.

Email a correction

Share this page

Please check the linked source before you forward a figure.

Forested Sahyadri ridges at Matheran wrapped in monsoon cloud
Matheran in the monsoon, above Karjat, Raigad · Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Pumped Storage Projects: Are They Really Useful?

Maharashtra is planning dozens of Pumped storage project (PSP) Two reservoirs at different heights: water is pumped up when power is cheap and released through turbines when power is needed. More in glossary → in the Western Ghats / Sahyadri The 1,600 km mountain chain along India's west coast: older than the Himalaya, a UNESCO World Heritage site and a global biodiversity hotspot. More in glossary → . This site tracks each one: the trees and forest it needs, the clearances it got, and what people living there say. Read the story, or explore the data pages.

Read the story   Find a project near you →

Independent: no money from developers, governments or parties. Built from official documents and 75 vetted outlets. How this site works

39projects tracked

1,64,674trees to be felled, on recordCounts public for 5 of 39 projects

3,211ha of forest land, on recordKnown for 32 of 39 projects

60,615MW in the pipeline

How a hill becomes a battery

Diagram of a pumped storage plant: an upper reservoir on a forested plateau joined by a tunnel to a powerhouse and a lower reservoir in the valley. 🐸🦜🐿️ Upper reservoir Lower reservoir Tunnel Turbines Grid

☀️ Daytime: power is cheap

When solar floods the grid at midday, pumps push water from the lower reservoir up a tunnel to the upper one. The hill becomes a battery.

🌙 Evening: power is dear

When demand peaks, the water falls back through turbines and makes electricity. About 22% of the energy is lost on the round trip.

🪓 The cost: the forest

Two reservoirs, a dam, tunnels, muck dumps, roads and power lines go onto forested hills. On record so far: 1,64,674 trees to be felled, from the 5 projects whose tree count is public, and 3,211 ha of forest land across 32 of the 39 projects.

🐸 The cost: life around it

Reservoirs and roads break up plateaus, streams and wildlife corridors that hold species found nowhere else, and take village land and grazing.

Explore the site

Story

10 chapters

The whole story in short chapters: the trees, the species found nowhere else, the clearances, the villages and the case for the projects, each chapter with a shareable card.

Projects

39 projects

Every pumped storage project planned in Maharashtra on a map and in one table, sorted by trees to be felled. 60,615 MW in all; a page per project with its documents.

Timeline

89 events

MoUs, clearances, felling orders, hearings and protests, newest first, filterable by project. Latest: Scheduled: PM to lay foundation stone for Karjat PSP.

News

11 reports

Coverage from a fixed list of outlets, updated every morning. Latest: “Karjat Sai Dongar Project Tree Cutting Halted, Protest Intensifies”.

Shortcuts

13 shortcuts

How environmental safeguards were sidestepped: what each rule requires, and what happened instead.

Voices

14 records

Gram sabhas, public hearings and objections from the affected villages, attributed by name.

Methodology

11 inputs

Every formula and assumption behind the numbers: forest per GWh, round-trip losses, emissions and tariffs.

Glossary

44 terms

ToR, EC, FC, ESA, gram sabha and the rest, in plain words.

What lives in these forests