India plans to expand its coal power fleet to meet soaring demand

India plans to further expand its thermal power fleet, the power minister Raj Kumar Singh announced, amid an unexpected rise in demand.

The nation intends to add almost 88 gigawatts of new capacity by early 2032, the minister said in parliament on Thursday, a 63% increase from a previous plan published in May.

Coal is likely to account for the lion's share of this expansion, as gas-fired electricity generation is currently unviable due to the high costs of the fuel. About 25 gigawatts of gas-based electricity plants operated at just 15% capacity so far this fiscal year, ministry data show.

"India has no other alternative than to expand coal-based power for now," according to R. Srikanth, a professor of energy and climate at the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bangalore. "You need storage to supply round-the-clock clean energy and we neither have the scale nor the desired costs for storage technology to meet our needs."

India's maximum demand exceeded the power ministry's projections of 229 gigawatts several times this year. Peak demand is expected to rise to 366 gigawatts in the fiscal year ending March 2032, up from 243 gigawatts this year, according to the power ministry.