How inflexible coal-fired plants harm India’s clean energy push, Pg13

Key Highlights:

• India's renewable energy capacity reached 262 GW in 2025, accounting for over 51% of the overall installed power capacity.
• Coal-fired plants' inflexibility is hindering the integration of renewable energy into the national grid.
• An incentive scheme is proposed to encourage thermal power plants to adopt greater operational flexibility.
• India lost 2.3 terawatt-hours (TWh) of solar generation between May and December 2025 due to curtailment.
• Curtailment resulted in compensation payouts of Rs 575 crore to Rs 690 crore to RE generators.
• Many coal-fired stations cannot operate below 55% minimum technical load (MTL).

Detailed Insights:

• Coal plants are expected to reduce output during peak solar hours and ramp up quickly after sunset, but many lack operational flexibility.
• Running plants at lower loads can cause damage to boilers and turbines, increase wear and tear, and shorten unit life.
• Renewable energy is increasingly being curtailed during peak solar hours due to the operational limits of coal-fired plants.
• Thermal power plants are often reluctant to reduce their MTL from 55% to 40% over efficiency concerns.
• In May 2025, the system frequency remained above the Indian Electricity Grid Code operating band for nearly 20% of the time.
• India operates a unified national grid, and any demand-supply imbalance affects system frequency.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Minimum Technical Load (MTL): The lowest stable generation level at which a thermal unit can safely operate without shutting down.
• Renewable Energy (RE): Energy derived from natural processes that are replenished at a higher rate than they are consumed.
• Curtailment: Reduction in renewable energy production due to grid limitations or oversupply.