New coal-fired power plants will be economically unviable: IEEFA

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Much of India’s 33 gigawatts (GW) of coal-fired power capacity currently under construction and another 29GW in the preconstruction stage will end up stranded, according to Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).

“Coal-fired power simply cannot compete with the ongoing cost reduction of renewables. Solar tariffs in India are now even below the fuel costs of running most existing coal-fired power plants,” says author Kashish Shah, Research Analyst at IEEFA.

In the last 12 months, no new coal-fired power plants have been announced, and there has been no movement in the 29GW of preconstruction capacity.

“This reflects the lack of financing available for new coal-fired power projects, and also the flattening of electricity demand growth, which has impacted coal the most.”

Despite these headwinds, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) projects India will reach 267GW of coal-fired capacity by 2030, which would require adding 58GW of net new capacity additions – or about 6.4GW annually.

Source
The Hindu businessline
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