The Pinnapuram Integrated Renewable Energy Project (IREP) being developed in Andhra Pradesh, is a combined solar, wind and pumped storage hydroelectric power project set to deliver on-demand power across India.
AFRY, a leading international engineering consultancy, has delivered a detailed design for the 1200MW pumped storage hydroelectric facility, using Seequent’s GeoStudio software to analyse slope stability and stress-deformation. And, seepage modelling to assess the integrity of rockfill dams.
Meeting renewable energy demand for the world’s largest population
India is investing in innovative technologies to help drive multiple, sustainable energy infrastructure projects to meet the demands of its 1.44 billion people.
“Due to global climate change, policymakers are shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and hydropower. This transition requires renewable energy sources with high capacity and the ability to provide continuous energy, sustainably,” says Dr Milind Patil, Senior Geotechnical Engineer and Project Lead at AFRY.
Alongside an international design team, Dr Patil specialises in engineering consulting and project management to support AFRY’s innovative, sustainable global infrastructure projects, including the Pinnapuram Integrated Renewable Energy Project (IREP).
A Google Earth image showing Pinnapuram PSP Location (Image Credit: Google Earth)
IREP is designed to be the world’s first and largest gigawatt-scale integrated project. The 2.75GW hybrid renewable energy project comprises a 1000 MW solar farm, a 550 MW wind farm, and a 1200 MW pumped storage hydroelectric facility.
“We know that solar and wind are great examples of renewable energy, but both are weather-dependent. In contrast, hydropower generated from the pumped storage project reservoirs can deliver electricity 24/7,” says Dr Patil.
“Combined these three renewable energy sources will complement each other. During the day, the solar project will provide power to pump water, and at night, when energy demand is at its peak, the plant can generate hydro energy – helping to stabilise the grid power balance,” he says.
1st
India developing world’s first integrated solar, wind and hydroelectric power project
1.2TMC
The project includes an upper and lower reservoir each with 1.2 TMC capacity
40m
The reservoirs are enclosed by 9.6 kilometre-long and 40 metre-high rockfill dams
A huge infrastructure footprint with multiple geotechnical challenges.
Designed for both peak load and baseload operations, the integrated facility will be capable of generating up to seven billion units of electricity per year.
The standalone pumped hydroelectric power component includes an upper and lower reservoir, each with a storage capacity of 1.2 thousand million cubic feet (TMC), enclosed by 9.6 kilometre-long and 40 metre-high rockfill dams with average embankment heights of 18 to 20 metres.
Effective Stresses in Lower Reservoir Dam Body and Substrata (Image Credit: AFRY)
“Given the extensive project footprint, our team faced significant geotechnical challenges due to the diverse geological conditions. We encountered at least five or six different soil and rock types in the area,” says Dr Patil.
Another big challenge was predicting the optimal behaviour of patches of weak soil disintegrating between the reservoir body when designing the open deep-cut tunnel slopes.
“We first needed to understand the complete, holistic geological picture, analyse it and only then begin to design our components,” he says.
To understand the underground the AFRY team used GeoStudio, Seequent’s comprehensive solution for geotechnical project analysis. The software offers various numerical analysis tools to simulate ground and subsurface conditions and create 3D models that deliver crucial insights across geotechnical projects.
“GeoStudio was the only solution that came to mind for designing our rockfill dam – our entire team already uses the software extensively for many day-to-day design tasks. And, it’s well-known and respected in the industry to ensure large-scale infrastructure projects meet safety requirements,” says Dr Patil.
Easily model and re-model reservoir designs. Efficiently capture small changes.
The AFRY team’s initial GeoStudio iterations involved trials and simulations to validate the user with literature and gain confidence in their outcomes before proceeding with the full reservoir design.
“GeoStudio gave us the flexibility to do all three different types of dam analysis – seepage, stress deformation and slope stability – in a single programme. A key advantage for us was being able to model material accurately to reveal real-time rock behaviour and to simulate shear strength and stress,” says Dr Patil.
GeoStudio’s streamlined processes, which automate tasks and design iterations, also help improve project timelines. And when tedious, frustrating tasks can be simplified and completed more efficiently, it frees up time for teams to collaborate and make faster, more informed decisions.
“As part of design optimisation and cost saving, clients often demand small changes to design aspects, such as the slope configuration or material, requiring multiple iterations that often become time-consuming and costly,” says Dr Patil.
“As an example, if a 4000-metre dam design footprint fell beyond the land acquisition boundary line requiring a steeper slope, GeoStudio enables us to easily create the geometry to make this change,” he says.
Upper Reservoir Slope Stability in Full Reservoir Condition (Image Credit: AFRY).
A world-class sustainable project to put India on the global renewable’s energy map.
With global policies requiring a shift to over 60% of energy consumption to renewables within the next 20 to 30 years, the Government of India is taking big steps to promote large-scale energy infrastructure projects such as IREP.
“Our government is determined to develop more than fifty similar infrastructure projects across the country. Also, with 70% of the over 5000 dams in India more than 40 years old, there is a significant need for rehabilitating and improving already existing infrastructure,” says Dr Patil.
As India adapts to market dynamics and positions itself for long-term success in the digital-driven global landscape, technology can help drive sustainable innovation and transformation across its infrastructure industry.
“AFRY’s big goals for this generation and its global infrastructure projects worldwide, is to promote sustainability, ensure that our designs comply with international standards, and maximise the positive impact of our projects on local communities and the environment,” explains Dr Patil.
“Seequent software not only enhances our team’s technical capabilities but also supports the sustainability of our projects through optimised resource management and environmental impact assessment.”