In 3 years, power cuts in India will rise, says report

• India’s rising electricity needs will likely be accompanied by increasing evening power cuts by 2027

Highlights:

• A research report from the India Energy and Climate Centre, University of California (Berkley) stated that India’s increasing electricity demand will likely be accompanied by evening power cuts because of insufficient renewable energy-powered back-up.
• This scenario is likely even if all the planned coal plants and thermal power assets were to be fully functional by that year.
• India has an installed electric capacity of 446 GW, with 211 GW coming in from coal, 195 GW from renewable energy sources, and the rest from gas and nuclear energy.
  • However not all of this capacity is available all the time.
• Therefore, a heatwave that lasts all day and whose impact can linger through the night will elicit high electricity demand even at night from air conditioners.
• Unlike in the day when spikes in demand can be met by solar energy, this is not possible at night.
• The way out, said the researchers associated with the study, would be to have more utility-scale solar plants alongside battery storage, which can store the solar energy made during the day.
• Moreover solar plants and batteries can be deployed much faster than coal and hydropower plants.

Prelims Takeaway

• Renewable energy
• Installed capacity