[Micele]

India gaat eindelijk zijn kolencentrales afdanken, hoge prijzen zijn al een tijdje niet houdbaar en lijden verlies.

https://qz.com/1272394/cheap-solar-a...-power-plants/

Cheap renewable energy is killing India’s coal-based power plants

Renewable energy prices in India are crashing, leaving coal-based power plants in the country financially unviable in their wake.

Over the last year, wind and solar power tariffs have fallen to a record low of around Rs2.4 per unit, much lower than the average of Rs3.7 per unit at which analysts say coal-based power is currently being sold on India’s power exchanges.

As a result, coal-based power plants are falling out of favour with power distribution companies (discoms).

“The (coal-based power) plants are ready but… no discom was coming forward for long-term PPAs (power purchase agreements) because they were getting power at a cheaper rate from renewable sources,” Sudhir Kumar, associate director at CARE Ratings, told Quartz.

Last financial year, for the first time, India added more power capacity from renewable sources than coal.

Of India’s approximately 197,100 megawatts (MW) of coal-based power capacity, nearly 40,000 MW—or 20% of the plants—have been termed stressed assets, and a fourth of these have turned unviable, Ajay Kumar Bhalla, secretary of the ministry of power, told BloombergQuint in an interview on May 08.

The Narendra Modi government examined India’s stressed power plants to assess the extent to which they’re financially viable. It found that financial problems with around 10,000 MW have been resolved, and another 10,000 MW of capacity is beyond redemption, Bhalla said. The remaining 20,000 MW is still under examination.

“8,000-10,000 MW of capacity we feel is beyond (resolution) because there’s hardly any progress in those projects,” Bhalla said.

Coal-based power plants are, hence, being forced to sell their power either on short-term agreements or on the power bourses such as the Indian Energy Exchange, where tariffs are much lower than what these plants require to stay afloat.

Coal-based power on India’s power exchanges is currently trading between Rs3.7 and Rs4 per unit “…but the minimum tariff required (by coal-based power plants) is Rs5 to get break even,” said Rupesh Sankhe, senior analyst at brokerage firm Reliance Securities.