India expands green energy capacity to shield businesses from power cuts this summer

For Saurabh Verma, who runs a printing plant in India’s Uttar Pradesh state, power cuts are one of his biggest headaches.

The director of Shiv Graphics and GRV Labels says his company relies on backup generators, inverters and uninterruptible power supply systems.

“These outages lead to production downtime, causing delays in delivery schedules, increased costs and reduced profits,” he says. “Critical equipment such as computers and machines can be damaged due to power surges when the electricity comes back on.”

Many parts of India are facing power cuts and there are widespread concerns that the situation could worsen this summer as temperatures rise.

“There will be supply shortages this summer,” says Ishan Chaturvedi, director and co-founder of Vareyn Solar. “The point to be noted here also is that this summer is going to be one of the hottest on record due to global warming, hence energy demands will be surging as well.”

Last year, when India was hit by heatwaves, there were power cuts across the country due to an increase in electricity needed to keep industry running and meet the air conditioning needs of the population. Coal shortages triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine only made the situation worse.

India depends on coal for about 70 per cent of its power generation. However, the country is struggling to meet growing energy demand as its population and economy grow, industry specialists say.

“A lot of things are happening and lots of industries are coming up,” says Amitansu Satpathy, director of Best Power Equipments.

Despite a projected slowdown in growth, India is expected to be the world’s fastest-growing major economy this year, with the International Monetary Fund projecting an expansion of 6.1 per cent.

With more than 1.4 billion people, it is also set to push ahead of China this year to become the world’s most populous country. The International Energy Agency forecasts that India’s energy demand will rise by 3 per cent each year over the next decade.

The government has taken a series of steps to try to limit disruption. The Ministry of Power invoked an emergency law this month that forces power plants dependent on imported coal to run at full capacity. This is expected to boost output amid expectations of record power demand in the coming weeks.

The ministry expects demand to hit a peak of 229 gigawatts next month and has ordered central and state utilities, as well as independent power producers, to take the necessary measures “to import coal for blending at the rate of 6 per cent by weight … so as to have sufficient stock at their power plants for smooth operations [until] September 2023”, it said.

The government has also been working to improve the domestic supply chain to ensure coal reaches power plants. This includes the purchase of 100,000 new railway wagons and moves to improve the rail network in coal-mining areas.

India has the fourth-largest coal reserves in the world and is also the second-largest importer of the fossil fuel.

However, some experts are sceptical about whether the steps being taken will be enough to meet India’s electricity needs this summer.

“There will be a lot of erratic supply,” says Mr Satpathy. “The government is taking lots of measures for tightening the generation part to be more and more stable. But still distributing that power into the utility areas is a real issue.”

The measures are expected to alleviate the problems to some extent. However, there is a remote possibility “of some of the demand not being met”, says Akhilesh Awasthy, chief operating officer of Hindustan Power Exchange.

He expects there to be an impact on prices from the expected surge in power demand.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a net-zero target for 2070 and intends to have half of the country’s electricity generated by renewable sources by 2030.

“Renewable energy will have an important role in addressing the power supply challenges that the country would face with the onset of summers,” says Mr Awasthy.

“The presence of rooftop solar and other renewable energy sources in the country’s portfolio can help mitigate the power sector challenges. At the same time, it is to be noted that these technologies are still at a nascent stage and further research and development will have to be carried out in utilising these technologies to the fullest.”

Mr Chaturvedi says coal-fired plants are not enough to meet the surge in demand. Renewable energy generation and distribution needs to be scaled up to meet India’s needs, even as it continues to depend on coal for many years to come, he says.

“Interstate renewable electricity supply is crucial to curtail electricity shortages,” says Mr Chaturvedi. “India has been ramping up its transmission network aggressively in the past 10 years and will soon have an interconnected centralised grid.”

India’s demand for power is set to rise by 3 per cent a year over the next decade due to population and economic growth