Solar power withstands COVID shock better than coal; generation up 26% y-o-y in Apr-Jun

• According to the data sourced from the CEA by PSU Watch, solar power generation has went up by 26 percent in the April-June period of FY21 year-on-year

• In contrast, for the April-July period of the current fiscal, thermal power generation has declined by nearly 18 percent year-on-year

New Delhi: Even as thermal power generation has taken a hit in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, solar power and other sources of renewable energy (RE) generation have showed substantial resilience. According to the data sourced from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) by PSU Watch, solar power generation has gone up by 26 percent in the April-June period of FY21 year-on-year, signifying that it has been able to withstand the impact lockdown had on the economy. In contrast, for the April-July period of the current fiscal, thermal power generation has declined by nearly 18 percent year-on-year, CEA data showed.

RE generation increased by 6% y-o-y in April-Jun period

Overall, renewable energy generation in the April-June period has witnessed a rise of nearly 6 percent when compared to the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. The figure stood at 38308.42 MU in the period, as compared to 36244.34 MU in the year-ago period. Wind power generation, on the other hand, has shown a decline of 8 percent in the April-June period of FY21 year-on-year. Biomass electricity generation has also charted an impressive increase in the said period at 32 percent when compared to the year-ago period. While small hydro power generation increased by 28 percent year-on-year, bagasse went down by 22 percent.

Also read: NTPC gets a nod from DIPAM, Niti Aayog to set up RE business subsidiary

How has RE withstood COVID shock?

"The supply chain disruption that has affected many other sectors did not impact the solar power sector because there is no disruption in sunlight supply. Essentially, it's the ever-ness (sic) that enabled the sector to withstand shock. We have been encouraging our Member countries to go for solar. And we are waiting for the time when storage costs will come down and we will near a solar revolution. We are also looking forward to solar power reaching kerosene-parity… when solar energy will be available at the price of kerosene," said Upendra Tripathy, Director General, International Solar Alliance (ISA). 

India's energy mix as of June 2020

The CEA data showed that the share of RE in overall power generation stood at 12.12 percent in the April-June period of FY21, while coal contributed the largest chunk of 70.52 percent, hydro stood at 13.03 percent and nuclear was at 3.61 percent. In the month of June, RE's share in the overall energy mix stood at 12.41 percent. 

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