Blog: Coal Story : Missing Points

Monday, 17 April 2017

Coal Story : Missing Points

Writing in Times of India ( 16 April 2017 / Dark Side of solar success ) , Shri Swaminathan A Aiyar makes following :

POINTS :

· The plant load factor ( PLF ) of coal based power plants was 76 % six years ago , but is now just 58 %

· At today’s PLF of 58 % , many coal based power plants are in trouble

· If average PLF falls below 48 % ( as is likely if Solar capacity soars to 40 GW by 2020 ), then many coal based projects will go bust

· High interest costs ( on borrowed capital ) can kill projects when the PLF falls

· Around 65 GW of NEW thermal power plants are already in pipeline

· PLF collapse could bankrupt many projects , hugely burdening lenders.

· Many banks are already staggering under enormous bad debts and now face the threat of fresh avalanche

· The notion that solar power has become cheaper than coal-based power is an illusion ( though, hopefully it will become reality if costs keep falling )

· Power storage based on conventional batteries is very expensive. Hopefully new technologies will cut the cost , but none are in sight yet

· Solar costs are falling fast, The slower we go, the more solar costs will fall. So speed is not a virtue

· India must plan to match total power supply with decelerating demand, and aim for a solar-thermal mix that avoids huge idle capacities

MISSING POINTS :

· Coal requires “ auctioning / licensing / mining / washing / transporting / storing “ – all of which are expensive / time-consuming processes .

Coal prices keep rising whereas sunlight cost remains ZERO for ever !

· Sunlight gets delivered directly on every roof-top Solar panel , FREE of cost and 300 days in a year !

· Our 196 GW thermal power plants produced 805.4 million tons of CO2 in 2015.

Solar Power produces NIL !

· Particulate matter emanating from Coal-based power plants is causing 6 LAKH premature deaths in India, EACH YEAR !

Solar Panels do NOT produce any particulate matter

· Thermal power plants consume almost 88 % of the water consumed by ALL industries put together

Solar Panels need VERY LITTLE water , for occasional washing

· If our current fleet of 200 MILLION petrol / diesel vehicles were to get replaced with Electric Vehicles ( government target is 2030 ), that will require a huge amount of electric power ( for battery charging stations )

If that power comes from Coal-based plants , CO2 emission levels and particulate matters , will get WORSE ! That power has to come from Solar !

· As far as storing of Solar Power ( generated during the day ) is concerned, TESLA has made tremendous progress with its POWERPACK batteries and even offered the Australian Government to install a 100 MW storage facility , within 100 days !

Read : Not a Day Too Soon ( 09 March 2017 )

{ https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/03/not-day-too-soon.html }

· Only 2 days back , Japanese Consortium consisting of Suzuki / Toshiba / Denso announced plans to start manufacture of Li-ion batteries in India by end of this year , at an investment of Rs 1200 crore

Read : India, the NEW land of the Rising Sun ? ( 01 April 2017 )

{ https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/04/india-new-land-of-rising-sun.html }

· Solar PV modules are dropping in cost at 22 % per year ( it was 26 % in 2016 )

Read :

TonySeba stands vindicated ( 16 March 2017 )

{ https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/03/tony-seba-stands-vindicated.html }

Howcheap can it get ? ( 14 March 2017 )

{ https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/03/how-cheap-can-it-get.html }

SolarPower at Re 1 per Kwh ? ( 29 Jan 2017 )

{ https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/01/solar-power-at-rs-1-per-kwh.html }

Sun :Our Soul ( 02 Jan 2017 )

{ https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/01/sun-our-soul-new-sos.html }