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The Central Electricity Authority's (CEA) target of adding 100 GW of thermal capacity is essential to ensure grid stability and enable smooth integration of 500 GW renewable energy by 2030, Rajinder Singh Ahuja CEO, Power, Vedanta told ANI.
"India's target to add 100 GW thermal capacity will actually aid the adoption of additional renewable power capacity without destabilising the grid," Ahuja said on the side lines of 6th CII International Energy Conference & Exhibition. He said thermal power remains essential to ensure grid stability, absorption of renewables, and energy transition to progress toward net-zero goals. "For India's energy transition, thermal plays a pivotal role at this moment till the time spinning reserve is taken over by more hydro power, nuclear power or energy storage systems (such as Pump Storage Project or Battery Energy Storage System) without jeopardising grid stability", he said. The government is proactive in formulating policies which support India energy transition with ultimate goal of achieving Net Zero by 2070. "Govt is supporting ecosystem for adoption of green energy by supporting additional capacity addition in PSP, BESS, Nuclear as well as Hydro power plants which can either be backed out to absorb more solar power during the day and can be run during the non-solar hours to supply the gap and provide stability to grid," Ahuja said. Talking on the role of thermal power, Ahuja said that thermal power or Gas based generation will play an important part in inter-mediatory phase. So, the role that thermal is playing in overall ecosystem of available options eventually has to be played by these hydro, nuclear, power, pump storage as well as the battery storage in the long run. Currently, while installed capacity of renewable power has reached 50 per cent of total installed capacity of 473 GW, however only 12 per cent of energy consumption comes from solar and wind, indicating a need for increased renewable adoption. Ahuja foresees this share to rise to 30-40 per cent once the targeted 500-gigawatt capacity is achieved. The government's policies are creating an ecosystem that includes solar, wind, pump storage, battery storage, and nuclear power, Ahuja added. Investment in transmission infrastructure has to be expedited and projects must be completed in time - otherwise it will become a bottleneck to achieve country's target of 500 GW renewable capacity. Speaking on Thermal power plant support from government, Ahuja said that Independent Power Producers (IPPs) have watertight Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) and any change in policy negatively impacts the economic viability of these power plants. He emphasized that any change in regulations which is rolled out by government shall be supported by Capex and Opex support to cover-up the extra burden of these regulations. Ahuja added that recent two changes in regulations like use of 5 per cent mandatory biomass and flexible operation of thermal power plants to accommodate solar generations are examples where IPPs will have to invest capex to meet this change in law. (ANI)
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