India’s federal government is in discussions with state governments to have them buy more renewable sources for power generation, Indian federal Minister of New and Renewable Energy, Pralhad Joshi, said on Monday.
State-held utilities have been delaying purchases of clean energy recently, the minister said at an energy conference in India, as carried by Reuters.
The federal government is currently looking to convince state governments, which are waiting for power prices to fall further, and will hold a second round of talks soon, Joshi said at the International Energy Conference & Exhibition.
India, where power demand continues to grow, is accelerating clean energy rollout, betting on more renewable energy sources, despite the fact that it relies heavily on coal for electricity generation.
Last week, India unveiled a national policy on geothermal energy to accelerate the clean energy transition.
The country is also set to launch a nationwide carbon capture and storage program with government incentives of up to 100% of funding for some projects as it aims to reduce emissions from its huge coal power fleet, which continues to rise.
“These incentives will help industries adopt carbon capture technologies and integrate them with coal-based energy systems,” Rajnath Ram, adviser for energy at the government policy think tank, NITI Aayog, said at a coal summit earlier this month, as carried by Reuters.
Coal-fired power generation and capacity installations in India continue to rise, and coal remains a key pillar of India’s electricity mix, with about 60% share of total power output.
Coal will still be a key part of India’s power system for the next two decades, Ram said at the summit.
In July, India boasted achieving five years ahead of schedule its target to have 50% of its installed electricity capacity coming from non-fossil fuel sources.
This installed capacity, however, does not mean renewable power generation will soon replace coal in India, especially if grid constraints and battery and transmission delays persist.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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