India has stepped up the use of coal to generate electricity in a bid to stop outages caused by lower hydroelectricity output, and as an increase in renewables is struggling to keep pace with record power demand.
Oh neat, for India you’re right. I had in mind European figures, I wasn’t expecting Indian weather to make such a big difference to cost. Here solar is still, in the best case, just as expensive as other energy sources because of the intermittency and short operating life (which is why utility-scale installations have been very focused on wind).
Honestly I can only assume that the main driver for coal in India is the high capital costs / lead time in getting utility-scale solar installed, whereas using more coal only increases operating expenses (cost of fuel) without actually having to expand existing infrastructure.
Um, what?
Solar and other renewables have been the cheapest power generation around when you factor in everything?
Oh neat, for India you’re right. I had in mind European figures, I wasn’t expecting Indian weather to make such a big difference to cost. Here solar is still, in the best case, just as expensive as other energy sources because of the intermittency and short operating life (which is why utility-scale installations have been very focused on wind).
Honestly I can only assume that the main driver for coal in India is the high capital costs / lead time in getting utility-scale solar installed, whereas using more coal only increases operating expenses (cost of fuel) without actually having to expand existing infrastructure.