Power Crisis In India

 

The power supply situation in India is predicted to worsen this summer due to delays in adding new coal-fired and hydropower capacity, which limits the country's ability to address surging electricity demand when solar energy is not available. India has been able to avert daytime supply gaps through rapid additions of solar farms, but a shortage of coal-fired and hydropower capacity risks exposing millions to widespread outages at night.

As you can see in this picture, in last 5 years india’s power capacity addition from coal is ~9% on the other side solar power is at  274%, which is also the highest growing means of power for india.

April's night-time peak demand is expected to hit 217 GW, up 6.4% on the highest night-time levels recorded in April 2022. The situation is concerning because power outages would threaten industries that operate around the clock, including auto, electronics, steel bar, and fertilizer manufacturing plants.

"If there is a power cut even for one minute, paper pulp gets blocked and messes up the delicate process and causes hundreds of thousands of rupees in losses," said P.G. Mukundan Nair, former chief of an Indian paper industry body who has been in paper manufacturing for nearly three decades.

So what is govt doing for this problem?

India's federal power secretary, Alok Kumar, has reassured the public that the government has taken all necessary steps to avoid power cuts. According to a report by Grid-India, as much as 189.2 GW of coal-fired capacity is expected to be available in April 2023, which is an increase of over 11% from the previous year. Coal, nuclear, and gas capacity combined are projected to meet around 83% of the country's peak electricity demand at night. However, hydro power will be crucial to meet the remaining supply, and also to serve as a flexible generator, as coal-fired plants cannot respond quickly to changes in demand. To prevent power outages, the government has expedited maintenance at some coal-fired power plants and secured additional gas-fired capacity.

According to Grid-India, peak hydro availability in April 2023 is predicted to be 18% less than it was in April 2022, when favourable weather conditions boosted output. To compensate for this, imported coal-based power plants will need to increase their output from 21% in February to up to 55% of their total potential, while domestic coal-fired units will have to increase their output from 69% in February to 75% of their potential. Hetal Gandhi, Director-Research at CRISIL Market Intelligence and Analytics, stated that "the burden of increased supply will definitely be borne by coal and gas," and achieving this increase in output would be a "tall order."

 

More Capacity is Needed

During the daytime, India's supply of electricity has been helped by a four-fold increase in solar capacity over the past five years, leading to renewables contributing to as much as 18% of generation. However, coal-fired capacity has only increased by 9% over the same period, leading to nighttime outage risks. Last year, there was intense competition for power around midnight in April, with buyers bidding for five times more power than sellers offered. The demand for electricity at night highlights the need for more coal capacity to be added to avoid outages in the next few years. However, the construction of 26 coal-fired units with a total capacity of 16.8 GW has been delayed by over a year due to local protests, legal challenges and lack of labour and equipment. Hydro and nuclear power capacity additions are also facing obstacles due to lack of foreign investment and opposition over safety and environmental issues.