The move comes amid international pressure to shift to green resources and the decision of top Indian companies to abandon plans of new coal-fired plants.
Kumar told ET that the developed world has to support countries like India through technology and finance for bringing down the cost of electricity storage.
“We are assessing the need and quantum required by 2030. It may be required to support base load while day supply will be by solar, because grid scale storage is still very expensive. However, the share of electricity generated by coal in total generation is projected to decline continuously,” he said.
The power ministry has ordered the constitution of an expert committee headed by former Central Electricity Regulatory Commission chairperson Gireesh Pradhan to prepare the draft national energy policy 2021. The last such guiding policy, a roadmap to planning in the power sector, was drafted in 2005.
A senior official said the shift from a power deficit economy to a power surplus economy, focus on renewable integration and electric vehicles, and deepening of the power markets had necessitated drafting a fresh national energy policy.
Coal-fired power generation capacity has nearly stagnated as power producers have stopped planning new projects while a few have also shelved some projects in the pipeline due to stress in the sector, lack of power purchase tenders from states and also the country’s focus on renewable energy generation.
Source : Economic Times
