Comments on: India’s energy transition: potential and prospects https://energytransition.org/2018/02/indias-energy-transition-potential-and-prospects/ The Global Energiewende Fri, 08 Jan 2021 10:32:25 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.1.1 By: Jatin Patel https://energytransition.org/2018/02/indias-energy-transition-potential-and-prospects/#comment-50989 Fri, 08 Jan 2021 10:32:25 +0000 https://energytransition.org/?p=16850#comment-50989 It would be nice to see and update on the above feature because we are now in 2021 and at least if we get data for 2020 it will is very useful that is not to you say that the above article is off less use it was certainly very useful

]]> By: James Wimberley https://energytransition.org/2018/02/indias-energy-transition-potential-and-prospects/#comment-6407 Thu, 01 Mar 2018 13:40:15 +0000 https://energytransition.org/?p=16850#comment-6407 The volume of coal plants under construction in India is now significantly less than 50 GW. Coal Plant Tracker listed 43 GW of active construction as of last July. Cross-checking their list against Wikipedia’s page on troubled Indian coal construction sites, I found that four of the projects that were active in July, totalling 3.7 GW, had dropped out by December. The current total is therefore close to 39 GW. Wait for the next update from Coal Plant Tracker.

The economics of new coal plants are disastrous in India (link to Forbes article). New wind and solar is selling for under the average cost of thermal coal electricity. Despatch priority for the former, and slower than expected growth n demand, have driven coal plant capacity factors down to 57%, which is much less than what the investors planned on getting.

]]> By: James Wimberley https://energytransition.org/2018/02/indias-energy-transition-potential-and-prospects/#comment-6406 Thu, 01 Mar 2018 13:25:42 +0000 https://energytransition.org/?p=16850#comment-6406 It’s a baffling choice by India to exclude large-scale hydro from the definition of renewables. Of course it’s sustainable, barring climate catastrophe cutting the runoff from the Himalayas. Dams are built to last for centuries. It is quite true that (a) the construction of large reservoirs often destroys large areas of valuable farmland or forests, and disrupts the human communities that live from them, (b) that the good sites have mostly already been taken. New big hydro is therefore not a good candidate for the new capacity needed. However, the large hydro legacy ideally complements wind and solar, in India as elsewhere. It is highly despatchable, with no “must-run” constraints, has negligible running costs, and can easily be retrofitted for pumped storage if needed.

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