“Source: IBEF”
India’s renewable power capacity limit will run ahead and multiply almost six-fold in the next decade, while the share of coal-fired plants in the energy mix will fall to 32 per cent from the flow 46 per cent as development in thermal generation will be far slower, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has assessed.
Complete share of non-fossil-fuel plants, which includes solar, wind, hydropower and nuclear, will jump to 65 per cent of the total projected limit of 831,502 MW from 36.6 per cent of the current installed limit of 356,817 MW, as indicated by CEA’s report on ‘Optimal Generation Capacity Mix’ for the year 2029-30.
Coal will have a higher share of actual electricity generated because of consistent supply dissimilar to wind and solar, which are erratic., coal’s share will fall from 77 per cent to 52 per cent by 2030, thermal plants would need to keep running at an even lower utilisation level of 40 per cent on days of heavy generation by renewable energy plants. On such days, green generation would also have to be cut by up to 17 per cent, it said. Gas-fired power plant capacity will be slightly lower than the current 24,937 MW by 2029-30.
The projected mix will be accomplished through a five-fold rise in renewable generation capacity, including a close 10-fold rise in solar power capacity, a three-fold rise in wind power capacity, and a 1.5-times rise in nuclear power generation capacity in the following 10 years.