Coal to dominate India power

<p>Coal may account for half of India’s power generation in 2030 despite a boom in solar and wind energy projects, according to analysis by the country’s power-planning body. <br><br>The nation’s Central Electricity Authority, highlights that the nation has a large existing fleet of coal plants and that there’s a mismatch between peak periods of demand and output from renewables. That will leave a big role for the most-polluting fuel in the nation’s future electricity mix. <br><br>The CEA’s analysis shows that India may be able to exceed one of its 2015 Paris Agreement commitments - reaching 40% of installed capacity from non-fossil fuel sources. But the report also sees annual carbon emissions from the power sector rising about 12% from levels expected in 2022 to 1.154 billion tons. The report didn’t include an assessment of what that means for another key India goal - cutting emissions intensity of gross domestic product by as much as 35% from 2005 levels. <br><br>The report, which is an attempt to model the lowest-cost capacity mix to meet expected future demand, identifies the intermittent nature of renewables as a limiting factor for its use and advocates adopting grid-scale battery storage. <br><br>Non-fossil fuel power sources, led by solar and wind, are seen generating 48% of gross generation, more than double what it was at the end of last year, while accounting for 65% of installed capacity, according to the report.India had 80 gigawatts of renewable capacity at the end of May and has set a goal to install 175 gigawatts by 2022. <br><br><strong>Cost Trends</strong><br>“The recent cost trends of renewable energy generation sources have given them the footing to compete with conventional sources of electricity generation,” according to the report. <br><br>India is projected to overtake the U.S. as the world’s second-biggest emitter of carbon dioxide from the power sector before 2030, as the nation’s electricity demand skyrockets, the International Energy Agency said in its World Energy Outlook last year. </p><p>While coal’s share in capacity is likely to drop to one-third, it will account for 50% of electricity generated. It was about 72% of generation at the end of March, according to separate CEA data. <br><br>Referred from economic times</p><p> </p>

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