Power Minister Calls RE Additions Inadequate, Case For Pushing Thermal Till 2035

Power Minister Manohar Lal made a strong case for India to push thermal power growth till 2035, due mainly to the inability of renewable capacity additions to fill the gap in demand. India’s peak power demand is projected to reach 458 GW by 2032, a number that cannot be met by even the planned 500 GW of renewable capacity  by 2030 or beyond, according to Khattar. This was the reason the power ministry awarded 12.8 GW of greenfield coal-based capacity in the first 100 days of the new government, said Khattar. He was speaking at media briefing at the inauguration  of the Power Ministry’s new Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT–Power) facility.

“The speed at which the demand is increasing, the supply of RE (renewable energy) is not enough, hence it is necessary to include thermal plants. When we talk of carbon emissions and achieving net zero, we will have to increase RE capacity and slowly reduce thermal capacity. We will push thermal till 2035 and after that we will reverse the process,” Khattar added.

rising power demand in the post Covid period has seen India recalibrate it’s plans, updating them to add add 80 GW of thermal capacity by 2032, with 28 GW under construction and 12.8 GW bid out. The government expects 14 GW to be commissioned within the ongoing financial year. The move comes even as RE additions are expected to cross a milestone of 25 GW for solar, and possibly 5 GW for wind energy during this financial year. But these have not been enough to counter the less than expected additions in previous years.