MUMBAI: Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday defended his government’s decision to go ahead with a pumped-storage hydropower project in Karjat, despite widespread protests over the proposed felling of more than 32,000 trees in the ecologically sensitive Sahyadri range. He also backed the expansion of AI data centres in Maharashtra, dismissing concerns over their heavy water and power consumption, saying the government would insist that new facilities minimise their use of both resources.
Asked about Maharashtra’s participation in the Centre’s Nuclear Energy Mission, Fadnavis said the state government had already signed memorandums of understanding for setting up nuclear power plants. Regarding opposition to AI data centres, Fadnavis attributed it to a misunderstanding of how such facilities operate. “Data centres are already operational in Mumbai, but no one is facing trouble. The government has assured that data centres in Thane and Navi Mumbai will use treated water and not fresh water. The government will insist on less power- and water-demanding data centres. State-owned power generation company Maharashtra State Power Generation Company (Mahagenco) could also participate in nuclear power generation, he added. “The state will have both big nuclear power projects and small modular reactors (SMRs). Fadnavis also dismissed fears about nuclear power projects, citing the Tarapur nuclear power plant in Palghar. “The Tarapur nuclear power plant has been working smoothly for more than four decades.
Because they require small plots of land, we are looking at SMRs particularly.
But from the national security point of view, we should maintain our data, for which data centres are needed,” he said. The state government recently sent a group to the US to study SMRs,” he said. Nothing has happened,” he said. The chief minister further said that the state government was increasing its share of renewable energy, including solar and wind power, but these sources had limitations in supplying 24×7 power. Nuclear power, on the other hand, is a source of clean energy and provides assured power continuously, including during peak demand periods, he said. “It’s for the future, as it takes years of planning and completion of nuclear power projects,” he added.
He also underlined the importance of nuclear power as a source of clean and assured energy supply. “When power demand is low, solar power at the site will be used to pump water from the lower dam to the upper dam.
Defending the project, Fadnavis said pumped-storage plants were a source of clean energy and would provide cheap power during peak-demand periods. So, the same amount of water will be used for the whole year to generate hydropower,” he said. Responding to questions from journalists at Varsha, his official residence, during a Diwali get-together on Wednesday, Fadnavis said the projects are the need of the hour.
