Cost of RE in India half of imported coal-fired electricity: IEEFA

Coal Insights Bureau

While the energy security imperative is clear given India’s overreliance on volatile fossil fuel imports, and now more so than ever in a globally supply constrained world, the economics have won the fight with cost of solar power becoming nearly 50 percent cheaper than electricity generated by imported coal-fired plants, says Tim Buckley, Director of Energy Finance Studies (IEEFA), South Asia.

With Indian government announcing awarding of a $2 billion 2 gigawatt (GW) solar tender at a near record low price of `2.55/kWh, cost of renewable energy in India is now 20-30 percent lower than the cost of a new domestic coal-fired power plant, even as electricity demand has collapsed 27 percent till April.

“Renewables are clearly the low cost, zero inflation, zero emissions source of new domestic electricity supply for India,” Buckley said citing the above figures.

Accelerated exit from coal funding

The biggest asset manager in the world BlackRock made a landmark announcement in January to divest thermal coal mining exposures from its $1.8 trillion of actively managed funds. Since then, there have been a further 20 announcements from financial institutions releasing their grip on coal.

Financial institutions

The development comes at a time when governments, corporates and financial institutions are accelerating their coal restriction policies in 2020.

And this year is likely to prove the beginning of the end for the thermal coal power industry globally, he said in a recent article.

After a decade of deflation in renewable energy costs approaching 10 percent annually, and an extended global economic lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, the credit appeal of coal-fired power plants has never looked worse, he said.