China, India go slow with coal power expansion; renewables to take centre stage

The Asian countries are going slow with their coal-based power project expansion plans. A recent report titled 'Boom and Bust 2017: Tracking the Global Coal Plant Pipeline' says Asian super powers China and India have frozen 68 GW of coal power plant construction at over 100 sites across the two nations. When viewed in the context of the rising prospects of renewable energy, this trend seems to be driven in the right direction.

The survey also divulged a parallel trend of ongoing over-investment in coal projects in India. These investments invariably indicate towards a potential waste of capital over the time, the authors of the report- Sierra Club, Greenpeace and Coalswarm opines.

It has been found that there has been a significant 48 per cent drop in the overall pre-construction activity, a 62 per cent decline in new construction starts and an 85 per cent decline in new coal-fired power plant permits in China.

In India, on the other hand, construction work at 31 coal-based power plant units totalling 12,725 MW of capacity across 13 project sites has been stalled, mainly due to freezing of financial support from various authorities.

People who are at the helm of affairs say India's power demand has not grown in tandem with the expanding plant capacity. Besides, the cost of renewable energy has also dropped causing financial backers to withdraw support from the projects.

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"Despite the slowdown in construction of new plants, and plant load factors dipping to an all-time low, there are more than 170 GW of power plants under various stages of approval," observed campaigner with Greenpeace India Sunil Dahiya.

However, there lies a silver lining. The draft National Electricity Plan in India, released by the Central Electricity Authority in December last year states that until 2027 no further coal-fired power capacity beyond that currently under construction will be needed, and the power generated from the ones that are currently under construction will be required only after 2022.