As the Union government prepares to auction 41 coal blocks across India, data from a report has shown the country’s coal power fleets to be under-utilised, with the worst performance seen in the financial year ending March 2020. The performance of coal power fleets declined by 21 per cent from 78 per cent in 2010 — a historical low — according to the India’s Clean Power Revolution report published June 26, 2020 by BloombergNEF. “India’s coal power fleet delivered just over half its maximum generation output in the fiscal year ending March 2020,” said the report.
Renewable energy will displace coal in the future in terms of storage, the report pointed out. “New onshore wind and new solar combined with battery storage will out-compete new coal power plants on a levelised basis by 2023 and 2029 respectively,” the report said.
— source downtoearth.org.in | 26 Jun 2020