Coal Ministry to set up PSPs on closed mines

New Delhi: In a major diversification plan, Coal India Limited (CIL) and its subsidiaries are planning to set up pump storage projects (PSPs) on huge tracts of decoaled (closed mines) lands at their disposal. According to highly placed sources, the plan to set up such projects in the first phase will be finalised in a month’s time, as the central government is quite bullish over such projects. Part of the coal ministry’s ambitious plans is to diversify towards alternate sources of energy and through these pump storage projects, it plans to utilise solar energy to develop hydro projects. The power ministry earlier this year had come out with guidelines for PSP initiative and the coal ministry plans to develop such projects based on them, sources informed further.