Global Courant 2023-05-05 09:30:00
NEW DELHI/SINGAPORE — India plans to halt construction of new coal-fired power plants, apart from those already in the pipeline, by removing a key clause from the final draft of its National Electricity Policy (NEP). change, sources said.
The draft, if approved by the federal cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, would make China the only major economy open to new requests to add significant new coal-fired capacity.
India and China account for about 80 percent of all activated coal projects as most developing countries scale back their capacity to meet climate targets. As of January, only 20 countries have more than one coal project planned, according to E3G, an independent climate think tank.
“After months of deliberations, we have come to the conclusion that we do not need any new coal additions beyond the coal already in the pipeline,” said one of the three government sources.
The sources declined to be identified as they are not authorized to speak to the media. India’s Ministry of Energy did not respond to requests for comment.
The new policy, if approved, would not affect the 28.2 GW of coal-based power at various stages of construction, the sources said.
China and India have lobbied together for freedom for countries to choose a roadmap to reduce emissions.
India, whose proposed coal power capacity is the highest after China, had repeatedly refused to set a timeline for coal phasing out, citing low per capita emissions, rising renewable energy capacity and demand for cheap fuel sources .
Coal is expected to be the dominant fuel in electricity generation in India for decades, but activists have pushed for a halt to new coal-fired power plants, arguing that it would at least help reduce the polluting fuel’s share of the total power reduction.
The draft, India’s first attempt at electricity policy review from 2005, also proposes to delay the decommissioning of old coal plants until renewable energy storage becomes financially viable, the sources said.
So far, old coal plants with a cumulative capacity of 13 GW have been earmarked for a functioning post-retirement deadline to meet the high demand for power, they said.
Change of view
In the initial draft of the 2021 NEP, India had said it could add new coal-fired capacity, though it proposed stricter technology standards to reduce pollution.
The Central Electricity Authority, an advisory body to the federal Ministry of Energy, had said in 2022 that India might need to add as much as 28 GW of new coal-fired power plants to meet rising electricity demand in 2022.
