Page 12 - GLNG Week 19

GLNG COMMENTARY GLNG
think-tank, Ember, formerly Sandbag.
The report put India’s fall in 2019 coal gen- eration at 3%, explained by low GDP growth of 0.9%, bumper hydro output, a nuclear pick-up
and record solar installations of 12 GW.
Coal generation’s falling market share is accompanied by poor financial performance. Nearly half the world’s coal power plants are now running at a loss, including most of India, think-
tank Carbon Tracker noted recently.
Outlook
What this leaves the Indian government with is an opportunity to boost the use of renewables in power generation. Indeed, it has started making noises about supporting renewables energy. This would work on cost grounds and as a method to reduce the country’s pollution levels.
It could also at least partly deal with the finan- cial problems currently faced by thermal gen- erators and the transmission and distribution networks.
Renewables is now beating coal on costs grounds. For example, a recent 2,000-MW solar auction received bids of INR2.55-2.56 ($0.034) per kWh, equivalent to $34 per MWh. By com- parison, coal generator NTPC produced power for INR3.38 ($0.045) per kWh, or $45 per MWh, in 2019-2019.
For example, the government is looking to firm up plans to provide a $12bn support pack- age for these parts of the power sector.
However, New Delhi has also said it will put an emphasis on renewables. The Ministry for New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has called on state governments to provide financial incentives for wind and solar manufacturers to develop hubs in India, partly as an alternative to Chinese imports.
The MNRE has allowed solar and wind con- struction projects to declare force majeure, and has extended project timelines, meaning they will avoid contractual penalties for delays.
The government has given all wind and solar projects “must-run” status, meaning that distri- bution companies cannot curtail supplies for green projects, even for grid balancing reasons. Instead, they must reduce supplies from coal or gas power plants.
Catch up
India is essentially playing catch-up with the developed world, where emissions are now falling after years of growth. The CREA data stressed that it was the lockdown that had man- aged to pull down India’s emissions.
The IEA recently noted that global energy-re- lated emissions levelled out at 33.3bn tonnes in 2019 following two successive annual increases in 2017 and 2018. However, it found that devel- oping economies, including the biggest emitters China and India, had continued their upward trend to 22bn tonnes in 2019, up from 21.1bn tonnes in 2017 and 21.6bn tonnes in 2018.
“We now need to work hard to make sure that 2019 is remembered as a definitive peak in global emissions, not just another pause in growth,” said Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director, in February.
The issue that India needs to grapple with is how to harness renewables to ensure that emis- sions do not recover in response to the govern- ment’s economic stimulus.
New Delhi must maintain its preference for renewables and reduce industry’s appetite for coal if the country is to continue to enjoy the initial fruits of lower emissions: lower pollution levels and clearer skies.™
India is essentially playing catch- up with the developed world, where emissions are now falling after years of growth.
New Delhi has also said it will put an emphasis on renewables.
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 19 15•May•2020