India produces two-thirds of its electricity with coal, but the turn of coal dependence is already looming.
India’s coal-fired electricity production was lower in August and September than a year earlier. This is a significant turning point, as the monthly growth of coal-fired electricity in India had continued continuously for 47 months, i.e. almost four years.
India is the fastest growing of the world’s economies, and it has produced 67.2 percent of the electricity it needs with coal. India is therefore the third largest emitter of climate emissions.
In August, however, the production of coal electricity fell by 4.9 percent and in September by 5.8 percent compared to the corresponding figures of last year, according to the state-owned electricity grid company Grid-India.
There were two main reasons for the decrease in electricity demand. The first was the exceptionally heavy monsoon season, which reduced the need for air conditioning and increased hydropower production by more than a fifth compared to last year.
A lot of other power generation capacity has also been built in India. In September, solar energy production grew by 26.4 percent compared to the previous year. The share of renewable energy sources in electricity production in India this quarter is 13.9 percent.
Nuclear power production has also increased.
Source: Reuters