APRIL 20238TOP STORIES Even as India travels on the path to a greener future, a massive 14.56GW of coal-fuelled electricity is expected to arrive on stream this financial year, in a reminder that the world's quickest-growing major economy needs diverse sources to satiate its rising hunger for energy. According to two people aware of the matter, this is part of a plan to add around 27GW of coal-fuelled capacity at the cost of about Rs.1.89 trillion, to be executed by power generation companies run by the Centre and state governments. The development comes against the backdrop of next year's general elections, with the government committed to providing round-the-clock quality, reliable and affordable power to all."India is achieving its energy transition goals fully and will continue to do so", Union power secretary Alok Kumar said in response to a query. He further added "We have already declared the bidding plan to add 50 GW of renewable energy capacity annually for the next five years to achieve the target of 500GW by 2030. At the same time, India has to ensure there is energy security that is required to enable its development and growth". India's power demand is growing at around 10 percent annually, with coal demand likely to peak between 2030 and 2035. Power from renewable sources is intermittent and insufficient to meet such demand, calling for coal power that also helps maintain grid stability. This also means that fossil fuel will remain the mainstay of India's energy mix for years, even as the country hosts the world's fourth-largest coal reserves and is the second-largest coal producer. The capacity addition is led by central public sector units (PSUs) such as NTPC (8.620GW), NLC (1.980GW), SJVNL (1.32GW), THDC India (1.32GW), and state government-run firms, including Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corp. (3.44GW), Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam (3.3GW), Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corp.(1.6GW), Telangana State Power Generation Corp. (4GW), Maharashtra State Power Generation Co.(660MW) and West Bengal Power Development Corp. (660MW), the people cited above said. "This coal-powered power generation capacity is required to meet the growing demand for electricity in the country and to supply 24X7 quality power to all", said a government official, one of the two people cited earlier. Queries emailed to the spokespeople for NTPC, NLC, SJVNL, THDC, TANGEDCO, UPRVUNL, APGENCO, TSGENCO, MAHAGENCO and WBPDCL late on Sunday night remained unanswered till press time. Coal power capacity totalling 205.235 GW remains the backbone of India's baseload, accounting for more than half of India's power generation capacity of 416.06GW. Analysts believe that India's dependence on coal-fuelled power will continue. "India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has maintained a neutral outlook for the power sector for FY24, as it believes the overall plant load factor (PLF) of thermal power plants would continue to improve and reach closer to 65 percent during the year. This is backed by the consistent growth in power demand, expected at 6.5 percent y-o-y for FY24 and FY25, and continued dependence on coal-based generation, in the absence of any major increase in capacity additions in any other sectors except renewables", Ind-Ra wrote in a report on April 10th. Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri expressed confidence that the government will meet the target of providing petrol blended with 20 percent ethanol by 2025, five years earlier than the deadline of 2030.Addressing a conference on biofuels, Puri said he was confident that government will be able to supply 20 percent ethanol-blended petrol by the next financial year. In February, petrol blended with 20 percent ethanol was rolled out at selective pumps in 11 states, to promote awareness about green fuels. As of now, 10 percent ethanol is blended in petrol. Meanwhile, Puri further said that India had achieved a blending of 10 percent ethanol in petrol in June 2022, five months ahead of the schedule. Ethanol-blended petrol is INDIA IS ENHANCING COAL POWER PRODUCTIONGOVT CONFIDENT OF PROVIDING PETROL BLENDED WITH 20 PERCENT ETHANOL BY 2025: PURI
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