COAL IS STILL POWER-FULL

Despite its focus on reducing carbon emissions, India relies heavily on coal for power production. Here’s how some of the country’s biggest power producers are preparing for the fossil fuel-free power generation era

- P.B. JAYAKUMAR

In 2015, Tata Power Company had a gross generation capacity of 8,726 megawatt (MW), mainly 7,607 MW of thermal power. Its green energy portfolio was barely 1,119 MW comprising 573 MW of hydro, 487 MW of wind and just 59 MW of solar. It had plans to add another 9,105 MW, of which thermal was 8,270 MW and just 835 MW of hydro and renewable power.

Six years later it’s a different story. Tata Power has 12,772 MW of installed capacity, but thermal capacity has been increased to just 8,860 MW. Instead, it now has 3,913 MW of clean power, including 1735 MW of solar and 932 MW wind, 871 MW hydro and 375 MW of waste heat recovery. The increase in thermal capacity was due to an acquisition of Prayagraj Power in 2019. “However, this is likely to be amongst the last investments in coal-based power plants as we turn our sights completely towards cleaner energy,” Praveer Sinha, CEO and Managing Director, Tata Power, told shareholders last year.

Fresh investment in new distribution solutions like micro-grid, solar rooftop and solar water pumps in both urban and rural areas are aimed at taking its share of clean and green energy from 30 per cent in 2020 to around 50-60 per cent in 2025. It has a large pipeline of over 1,240-MW solar capacity under implementation in more than a dozen projects.