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India cancels plans for coal power stations due to cheap solar
[Dhaka Tribune] India has cancelled plans to build nearly 14 gigawatts of coal-fired power stations, about the same as the total amount in the UK, with the price for solar electricity "free falling" to levels once considered impossible.Let us know how that works out for ya... Analyst Tim Buckley said the shift away from the dirtiest fossil fuel and towards solar in India would have "profound" implications on global energy markets. According to his article on the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis’s website, 13.7GW of planned coal power projects have been cancelled so far this month, in a stark indication of the pace of change. In January last year, Finnish company Fortum agreed to generate electricity in Rajasthan with a record low tariff, or guaranteed price, of RS4.34 per kilowatt-hour. Buckley, director of energy finance studies at the IEEFA, said that at the time analysts said this price was so low would never be repeated. But, 16 months later, an auction for a 500-megawatt solar facility resulted in a tariff of just RS2.44, compared to the wholesale price charged by a major coal-power utility of RS3.2 rupees (about 31% higher). "For the first time solar is cheaper than coal in India and the implications this has for transforming global energy markets is profound," Buckley said. Posted by: Fred 2017-05-26 |
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