Why India’s Green Push Needs Balancing

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Why in the News?
• Background
• India’s New Coal Thrust
• Challenges Faced in Generation of Energy from Renewable Sources
• Why Complete Stoppage of Coal-Powered Energy Plants is not Practical?
• Conclusion

Background

• Between 30 Nov to 12 Dec 2023, the Government of the United Arab Emirates hosted the 28^th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP-28) in Dubai.
• The COP is held annually to meet and discuss action on climate change and emissions reductions.
• At COP-28, fossil fuel phase-out was the most hotly contested issue. The COP ended with an agreement to “transition away from fossil fuels”, but without a mention of their “phase-out”.
• There was strong push back by India, China and South Africa to a proposal stipulating that no new coal-fired power plants can be commissioned without an in-built carbon capture and storage facility.
• This push back ultimately led to the omission of the clause from the final climate deal that was agreed upon in Dubai.

India’s New Coal Thrust

• At a review meeting held less than a week before the beginning of COP28, the Union Power Ministry decided to step up its coal-powered generation capacity.
• This includes plans to add at least 80 gigawatts (GW, where 1 GW is equal to 1,000 megawatts or MW) by 2031-32.
• While this was broadly in line with the National Electricity Plan for 2022-27, it marked a discernible pivot and a policy reversal from earlier years.
  • The Central government had been focusing almost entirely on renewable energy for incremental capacity addition, and fresh coal-fired capacity was virtually ruled out.
• During the review meeting held by the Union Power Minister Shri R K Singh, country’s resolve to revert to coal for desperately-needed baseload capacity was underscored.

Challenges Faced in Generation of Energy from Renewable Sources

• As part of its emission-reduction resolve, the government has consistently stepped-up renewable capacity addition over the better part of the last decade.
• To operationally sustain a huge average monthly addition of 1,000 MW from non-fossil fuels or renewables to the electricity grid.
• However, policymakers are now of the opinion that the country simply cannot keep adding more green capacity unless it has viable energy storage options.
• India is now the world’s third largest producer of renewable energy.
  • More than 40 per cent of installed electricity capacity comes from non-fossil fuel sources, including large hydro, having risen sharply from just around 25 per cent in 2013.
  • Solar and wind capacity is now more than 30 per cent.
• This green push has resulted in a 24 per cent reduction in emission intensity of GDP — ratio of total greenhouse gas emissions and gross domestic product — between 2005 and 2016.
• However, it has led to a situation in which the grid is increasingly powered by renewables, which creates the problem of intermittency, a significant challenge from a grid management perspective.
• It is clear in policy circles that without storage, incremental renewable power capacity poses problems for grid managers.
• For procurers such as state-owned distribution companies (discoms), renewables are not always a viable option precisely due to these vagaries in the generation trends.
  • This means they still have to depend on thermal or nuclear generation to meet the base load demand.
• To counter the problem of intermittency, power utilities are forced to keep old thermal units on standby — but keeping these units operational results in payouts of high fixed costs. The concept of renewables achieving grid-parity is proving to be farce.

Why Complete Stoppage of Coal-Powered Energy Plants is not Practical?

• At the review meeting held by the power minister, it was agreed upon that energy storage is desperately needed alongside green energy sources to counter the variability in renewable generation.
  • Electricity is generated only when the sun shines or when the wind blows, which is not always in sync with the demand cycle.
  • Storage can help tide over this shortcoming, especially as renewables grow to become a big chunk of the installed generation capacity.
• Until that happens, stepping up thermal, especially coal, and nuclear generation are perhaps the only way forward.
• The renewables challenge is compounded by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) Ltd, the state-owned company conducting solar auctions.
  • It has locked a number of contracts involving green developers in rigid power purchase agreements (PPAs) with no scope for innovation, according to sectoral experts.
• Storage is expensive currently, and the Lithium-ion storage battery option for grid application is being ruled out as unviable, at least for now.
• The government is considering two alternatives: hydrogen and hybrid generation models blended with off-stream pumped storage.
  • But there is a recognition that coal-fired capacity needs to stay as base load for the time being, given that there are constraints on ramping up nuclear capacity.

Conclusion

• India is the world’s second largest coal producer.
• The stipulation moved (unsuccessfully) at the Dubai COP28 meeting that no new coal-fired power plants can be commissioned without an in-built carbon capture and storage facility, would have effectively put India’s fresh coal-based capacity in jeopardy, given the added cost implications.

Q1) What is the Pyrolysis process?

Pyrolysis is a process by which a solid (or a liquid) undergoes thermal degradation into smaller volatile molecules, without interacting with oxygen or any other oxidants. Pyrolysis is a necessary process for the combustion of most solid fuels.

Q2) What is the difference between Oxidation & Combustion?

Oxidation is the addition of oxygen to a molecule, and combustion is the complete oxidation of an organic compound into carbon dioxide and water in the presence of oxygen.

Source: Why India’s green push needs balancing, why COP28 coal breather is important

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