New Delhi, Nov 29 (FN Bureau) India plans to implement projects generating 256 GW of power by 2030, a senior central government official said here on Tuesday. Addressing the 13th edition of Energy Conclave organised by CII, Central Electricity Authority (CEA) chairperson Ghanshyam Prasad said “Various studies indicate that the demand for energy will be around 248 Gigawatt (GW) by 2030 and this can go upto 256 GW if renewable joins forces”. He said there had been a downturn in consumption during the pandemic but with a sudden economic turnaround in 2021, the grid faced a crisis coupled with high import prices of coal. Prasad lauded the coming together of all energy stakeholders which helped India tide over the crisis and meet challenges with decisive, welcome decisions.
Reiterating the importance of coal in the energy geography, he said: “Plans are on ground to have projects generating 256 GW of power by 2030 and generation of 27 GW of coal-based generation by 2026-27”. 30 GW coal-based generation projects are also in the anvil to materialiSe by 2030 focusing to be within 300 kms of the pithead area to reduce transportation costs, Prasad said. As far as the transition to sustainable energy businesses are concerned, Prasad said the focus is to bring down the share of coal-based generation from 75 percent to less than 50 percent by 2030 and attempt to increase the share of renewables to 500 GW which is 168 GW as of now. The focus is now on commissioning matching transmission lines and the government is fast tracking it along with plan for setting up a 536 GW Renewable Energy (RE) capacity transmission plant, he said.
Speaking about the increasing importance of hydro pump storage, Prasad spoke about how peaks of consumption are now shifting to afternoons and not evening, aligning with the solar peaks though in April 2023, there could be a crisis in evening hours if careful planning to handling capacities are not made. Prasad said that the target should be to phase out all fossil fuels and not only coal as the carbon emission of coal and gas are the same. Prasad also opined that with India gaining presidency of G20 from 1 December 2023, it will be able to push its views and focus on energy security, innovations and energy efficiency. Coal India Chairman & Managing Director Pramod Agrawal said focus is laid solely on fossil fuel and coal though methane is significantly more dangerous than carbon dioxide. The natural gas production is going up but is not getting phased out, he said. But coal, according to Agrawal, cannot be given up in the near future as 70 percent of the energy depends on it especially in India. Addressing the Conclave virtually, Gurdeep Singh, Chairman & Managing Director, NTPC said his organisation is constructing 16 GW and 7 GW plants with one-third of its capacities in the east. NTPC, he added, is also replacing the water-cold condenser with air cold condensers and any loss in efficiency side will be offset by gains in water sustainability.