Achi news desk-
(Bloomberg) — Built along a stretch of salt flats in southern India, the Tuticorin power station epitomizes a conundrum for the world’s fastest-growing major economy: how to provide reliable energy to 1.4 billion people.
Initially, the 1,050-megawatt coal plant, one of the largest in the region, was due to close. Opened four decades ago, the facility is too cramped to install retrofits to meet government pollution norms, prompting India’s power ministry to plan to shut it down by 2022. Yet the facility continues to running at full capacity, clocking 90% utilization in February. Aging boilers spew coal from mines nearly 2,000 kilometers away – a transport distance that only adds to the nation’s emissions footprint.
Electricity consumption in India is growing at the fastest rate of any major economy, driven by rising temperatures and incomes, which have pushed up sales of power-intensive appliances such as air conditioners. That explosive equation has exposed the country’s shaky grid. Although Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised to rapidly build solar and wind power to replace polluting fossil fuels, his administration has been unable to keep up with demand, giving a second life to old inefficient coal plants like the one in Tuticorin .
In recent months, Modi has greenlit a new wave of power station development and extended the life of many existing coal assets. It’s a decision that puts India at odds with global allies who shun the fuel on climate grounds, threatening Modi’s ambitions to curb air pollution and reduce the world’s third largest share of greenhouse gas emissions. .
Those dynamics will also give the nation a crucial role in determining the pace of the world’s retreat from coal. Demand in China, currently the top consumer, is likely to have peaked last year and the future rate of growth will increasingly be driven by the rising economies of India and South East Asia, according to the International Energy Agency.
“The message is clear to international and domestic audiences: We are all ready for climate action, but India’s domestic interests will take precedence,” said Ashwini K. Swain, a fellow at the Sustainable Futures Collaborative, a climate think tank in New Delhi.
India’s power ministry and Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corp., which runs the Tuticorin coal plant, did not respond to requests for comment.
India has a long way to go to ensure reliable and affordable electricity. In October 2021, the country was hit by a massive coal and power crisis, just as the economy began to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic. Years of weak demand had led to sluggish growth in mining, transportation and power generation capacities.
Shortly after the situation improved, officials realized that the crisis was not a blip. Demand for energy rose to a new high the following summer, causing the worst supply shortage in eight years. In 2023, although that crunch eased nationally, Maharashtra, one of India’s most industrialized states and home to its financial capital Mumbai, faced an alarming peak deficit of 10% in August.
Although shortages raised expectations that the country would accelerate the transition to green energy, India’s response was exactly the opposite. Officials pushed for more mining, abandoned plans to retire old power plants, raised targets to add coal-fired electricity and successfully lobbied international forums to adopt resolutions that would not hamper the use of the fuel fossil.
“As a country, we should play to our strength, and coal is our strength,” said Prakash Tiwari, former director of operations at NTPC Ltd., the country’s largest state-run power producer.
Alternative energy solutions have not yet taken hold for financial, political and security reasons.
More than 35 miles from Tuticorin, a dusty road leads to two solar power stations surrounded by sprawling wind farms. Ayana Renewable Power, which runs one of the facilities, sees a future in renewable power with energy storage to serve industrial users. That trend is increasing in India, although far from becoming a source of mass power supplies. Solar accounted for 6% of generation in 2023, according to Bloomberg calculations based on power ministry data.
State-run power producer NLC India Ltd., which runs the other plant, is committing more than twice as much money to expanding mining, coal and lignite power capacity than to building renewables , according to Chairman M. Prasanna Kumar.
Natural gas, pushed by producers as a less polluting alternative to coal, has also struggled to compete. Nearly 25 gigawatts of gas-fired power capacity has been idle for years, priced out of other power sources, including coal. India does not have enough domestically produced subsidized fuel to run the plants and operating these assets on imported liquefied natural gas is often too costly in India’s competitive electricity market regarding prices.
Construction of hydropower dams is also in full swing. Most of India’s potential there is locked in the fragile Himalayan region, where frequent extreme weather events, such as flash floods, put projects at risk. The risks have fueled local opposition to large dams, delaying plans for years and adding to costs that have made many of them undesirable.
Nuclear power has seen a revival in many parts of the world due to its low emission energy. But there too, the industry in India has moved too slowly to make a mark and questions about safety remain. The nation’s nuclear liability law holds sellers and suppliers responsible for accidents. Many are still horrified by the Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984, which killed thousands of people exposed to toxic chemicals.
Consider Kudankulam, about 90 miles south of Tuticorin. The site is home to two reactors of 1 gigawatt each and four more are being added. In the nearby village of Idinthakarai, 52-year-old Mildred, who goes by one name, has been at the forefront of protesting the construction of the factory. She has traveled across the country to discuss the risks of nuclear energy.
“Why can’t these be our main source of energy?” asked the activist on a recent day, pointing out some wind turbines rotating near her home.
In 2008, India reached an agreement with the US to share nuclear technology and fuel, clearing the runway for new projects. India has also signed agreements with foreign reactor suppliers, including General Electric-Hitachi, Westinghouse Electric Corp. and Areva SA, which later transferred the project to state-owned peer Electricite de France SA. GE-Hitachi has since backed down, citing liability law.
In the western state of Maharashtra, India had planned to build the world’s largest nuclear power plant, a massive 9.6 gigawatt facility near sprawling Alphonso mango orchards.
But local people refused to sell their land when Kiran Dixit, then executive director of the state monopoly Nuclear Power Corp, visited. of India Ltd., with the area.
They thought prices were too low and worried that the plan would harm the livelihood of fishermen and the mango trees. The company tried to allay those fears and eventually acquired the land, Dixit said. However, the Jaitapur project is yet to break ground significantly as the two sides continue to negotiate the terms of the deal.
©2024 Bloomberg LP
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