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India Solar Slowdown and Coal Surge highlights policy uncertainty, grid stability concerns, financing gaps, and land acquisition issues affecting renewable energy, emissions targets, energy security, storage deployment, and tendering delays across the solar value chain.

Key Points

Analysis of slowed solar growth and rising coal in India, examining policy, grid, finance, and emissions tradeoffs.

✅ Policy uncertainty and tender delays stall solar pipelines

✅ Grid bottlenecks, storage gaps, and curtailment risks persist

✅ Financing strains and DISCOM payment delays dampen investment

India, a global leader in renewable energy adoption where renewables surpassed coal in capacity recently, faces a pivotal moment as the growth of solar power output decelerates while coal generation sees an unexpected surge. This article examines the factors contributing to this shift, its implications for India's energy transition, and the challenges and opportunities it presents.

India's Renewable Energy Ambitions

India has set ambitious targets to expand its renewable energy capacity, including a goal to achieve 175 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy by 2022, with a significant portion from solar power. Solar energy has been a focal point of India's renewable energy strategy, as documented in on-grid solar development studies, driven by falling costs, technological advancements, and environmental imperatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Factors Contributing to Slowdown in Solar Power Growth

Despite initial momentum, India's solar power growth has encountered several challenges that have contributed to a slowdown. These include policy uncertainties, regulatory hurdles, land acquisition issues, and financial constraints affecting project development and implementation, even as China's solar PV growth surged in recent years. Delays in tendering processes, grid connectivity issues, and payment delays from utilities have also hindered the expansion of solar capacity.

Surge in Coal Generation

Concurrently, India has witnessed an unexpected increase in coal generation in recent years. Coal continues to dominate India's energy mix, accounting for a significant portion of electricity generation due to its reliability, affordability, and existing infrastructure, even as wind and solar surpassed coal in the U.S. in recent periods. The surge in coal generation reflects the challenges in scaling up renewable energy quickly enough to meet growing energy demand and address grid stability concerns.

Implications for India's Energy Transition

The slowdown in solar power growth and the rise in coal generation pose significant implications for India's energy transition and climate goals. While renewable energy remains central to India's long-term energy strategy, and as global renewables top 30% of electricity generation worldwide, the persistence of coal-fired power plants complicates efforts to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate climate change impacts. Balancing economic development, energy security, and environmental sustainability remains a complex challenge for policymakers.

Challenges and Opportunities

Addressing the challenges facing India's solar sector requires concerted efforts to streamline regulatory processes, improve grid infrastructure, and enhance financial mechanisms to attract investment. Encouraging greater private sector participation, promoting technology innovation, and expanding renewable energy storage capacity are essential to overcoming barriers and accelerating solar power deployment, as wind and solar have doubled their global share in recent years, demonstrating the pace possible.

Policy and Regulatory Framework

India's government plays a crucial role in fostering a conducive policy and regulatory framework to support renewable energy growth and phase out coal dependence, particularly as renewable power is set to shatter records worldwide. This includes implementing renewable energy targets, providing incentives for solar and other clean energy technologies, and addressing systemic barriers that hinder renewable energy adoption.

Path Forward

To accelerate India's energy transition and achieve its renewable energy targets, stakeholders must prioritize integrated energy planning, grid modernization, and sustainable development practices. Investing in renewable energy infrastructure, promoting energy efficiency measures, and fostering international collaboration on technology transfer and capacity building are key to unlocking India's renewable energy potential.

Conclusion

India stands at a crossroads in its energy transition journey, balancing the need to expand renewable energy capacity while managing the challenges associated with coal dependence. By addressing regulatory barriers, enhancing grid reliability, and promoting sustainable energy practices, India can navigate towards a more diversified and resilient energy future. Embracing innovation, strengthening policy frameworks, and fostering public-private partnerships will be essential in realizing India's vision of a cleaner, more sustainable energy landscape for generations to come.

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EU Electrification Strategy 2050 outlines shifting transport, buildings, and industry to clean power, accelerating EV adoption, heat pumps, and direct electrification to meet targets, reduce emissions, and replace fossil fuels with renewables and low-carbon grids.

Key Points

EU plan to cut emissions 95% by 2050 by electrifying transport, buildings and industry with clean power.

✅ 60% of final energy from electricity by 2050

✅ EVs dominate transport; up to 63% electric share

✅ Heat pumps electrify buildings; industry to 50% direct

The European Union has one of the most ambitious carbon emission reduction goals under the global Paris Agreement on climate change – a 95% reduction by 2050.

It seems that everyone has an idea for how to get there. Some are pushing nuclear energy. Others are pushing for a complete phase-out of fossil fuels and a switch to renewables.

Today the European electricity industry came out with their own plan, amid expectations of greater electricity price volatility in Europe in the coming years. A study published today by Eurelectric, the trade body of the European power sector, concludes that the 2050 goal will not be possible without a major shift to electricity in transport, buildings and industry.

The study finds that for the EU to reach its 95% emissions reduction target, electricity needs to cover at least 60 percent of final energy consumption by 2050. This would require a 1.5 percent year-on-year growth of EU electricity use, with evidence that EVs could raise electricity demand significantly in other markets, while at the same time reducing the EU’s overall energy consumption by 1.3 percent per year.

#google#

Transport is one of the areas where electrification can deliver the most benefit, because an electric car causes far less carbon emissions than a conventional vehicle, with e-mobility emerging as a key driver of electricity demand even if that electricity is generated in a fossil fuel power plant.

In the most ambitious scenario presented by the study, up to 63 percent of total final energy consumption in transport will be electric by 2050, and some analyses suggest that mass adoption of electric cars could occur much sooner, further accelerating progress.

Building have big potential as well, according to the study, with 45 to 63 percent of buildings energy consumption could be electric in 2050 by converting to electric heat pumps. Industrial processes could technically be electrified with up to 50 percent direct electrification in 2050, according to the study. The relative competitiveness of electricity against other carbon-neutral fuels will be the critical driver for this shift, but grid carbon intensity differs across markets, such as where fossil fuels still supply a notable share of generation.

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Muskrat Falls financial impact highlights a hydro megaproject's cost overruns, rate mitigation challenges, and inquiry findings in Newfoundland and Labrador, with power exports, Churchill River generation, and subsea cables shaping long-term viability.

Key Points

It refers to the project's burden on provincial finances, driven by cost overruns, rate hikes, and debt risks.

✅ Costs rose to $12.7B from $6.2B; inquiry cites suppressed risks.

✅ Rate mitigation needed to offset power bill shocks.

✅ Exports via subsea cables may improve long-term viability.

Newfoundland and Labrador's premier says the Muskrat Falls hydro megaproject is currently too much of a massive financial burden for him to be optimistic about its long-term potential.

"I am probably one of the most optimistic people in this room," Liberal Premier Dwight Ball told the inquiry into the project's runaway cost and scheduling issues, echoing challenges at Manitoba Hydro that have raised similar concerns.

"I believe the future is optimistic for Newfoundland Labrador, of course I do. But I'm not going to sit here today and say we have an optimistic future because of the Muskrat Falls project."

Ball, who was re-elected on May 16, has been critical of the project since he was opposition leader around the time it was sanctioned by the former Tory government.

He said Friday that despite his criticism of the Labrador dam, which has seen costs essentially double to more than $12.7 billion, he didn't set out to celebrate a failed project.

He said he still wants to see Muskrat Falls succeed someday through power sales outside the province, but there are immediate challenges -- including mitigating power-rate hikes once the dam starts providing full power and addressing winter reliability risks for households.

"We were told the project would be $6.2 billion, we're at $12.7 (billion). We were never told this project would be nearly 30 per cent of the net debt of this province just six, seven years later," the premier said.

"I wanted this to be successful, and in the long term I still want it to be successful. But we have to deal with the next 10 years."

The nearly complete dam will harness Labrador's lower Churchill River to provide electricity to the province as well as Nova Scotia and potentially beyond through subsea cables, while the legacy of Churchill Falls continues to shape regional power arrangements.

Ball's testimony wraps up a crucial phase of hearings in the extensive public inquiry.

The inquiry has heard from dozens of witnesses, with current and former politicians, bureaucrats, executives and consultants, amid debates over Quebec's electricity ambitions in the region, shedding long-demanded light on what went on behind closed doors that made the project go sideways.

Some witnesses have suggested that estimates were intentionally suppressed, and many high-ranking officials, including former premiers, have denied seeing key information about risk.

On Thursday, Ball testified to his shock when he began to understand the true financial state of the project after he was elected premier in 2015.

On Friday, Ball said he has more faith in future of the offshore oil and gas industry, and emerging options like small nuclear reactors, for example, than a mismanaged project that has put immense pressure on residents already struggling to make ends meet.

After his testimony, Ball said he takes some responsibility for a missed opportunity to mitigate methylmercury risks downstream from the dam through capping the reservoir, in parallel with debates over biomass power in electricity generation, something he had committed to doing before it is fully flooded this summer.

Still to come is a third phase of hearings on future best practices for issues like managing large-scale projects and independent electricity planning, two public feedback sessions and closing submissions from lawyers.

The final report from the inquiry is due before Dec. 31.

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Autonomous Energy Kites harness offshore wind on floating platforms, using carbon fiber wings, tethers, and rotors to generate grid electricity; an airborne wind energy solution backed by Alphabet's Makani to cut turbine costs.

Key Points

Autonomous Energy Kites are tethered craft that capture winds with rotors, generating grid power from floating platforms.

✅ Flies circles on tethers; rotors drive generators to feed the grid.

✅ Operates over deep-sea winds where fixed turbines are impractical.

✅ Lighter, less visual impact, and lower installation costs offshore.

One company's self-flying energy kite may be the answer to increasing wind power around the world, alongside emerging wave power solutions as well.

California-based Makani -- which is owned by Google's parent company, Alphabet -- is using power from the strongest winds found out in the middle of the ocean, where the offshore wind sector has huge potential, typically in spots where it's a challenge to install traditional wind turbines. Makani hopes to create electricity to power communities across the world.

Despite a growing number of wind farms in the United States and the potential of this energy source, lessons from the U.K. underscore how to scale, yet only 6% of the world's electricity comes from wind due to the the difficulty of setting up and maintaining turbines, according to the World Wind Energy Association.

When the company's co-founders, who were fond of kiteboarding, realized deep-sea winds were largely untapped, they sought to make that energy more accessible. So they built an autonomous kite, which looks like an airplane tethered to a base, to install on a floating platform in water, as part of broader efforts to harness oceans and rivers for power across regions. Tests are currently underway off the coast of Norway.

"There are many areas around the world that really don't have a good resource for renewable power but do have offshore wind resources," Makani CEO Fort Felker told Rachel Crane, CNN's innovation correspondent. "Our lightweight kites create the possibility that we could tap that resource very economically and bring renewable power to hundreds of millions of people."

This technology is more cost-efficient than a traditional wind turbine, which is a lot more labor intensive and would require lots of machinery and installation.

The lightweight kite, which is made of carbon fiber, has an 85-foot wingspan. The kite launches from a base station and is constrained by a 1,400-foot tether as it flies autonomously in circles with guidance from computers. Crosswinds spin the kite's eight rotors to move a generator that produces electricity that's sent back to the grid through the tether.

The kites are still in the prototype phase and aren't flown constantly right now as researchers continue to develop the technology. But Makani hopes the kites will one day fly 24/7 all year round. When the wind is down, the kite will return to the platform and automatically pick back up when it resumes.

Chief engineer Dr. Paula Echeverri said the computer system is key for understanding the state of the kite in real time, from collecting data about how fast it's moving to charting its trajectory.

Echeverri said tests have been helpful in establishing what some of the challenges of the system are, and the team has made adjustments to get it ready for commercial use. Earlier this year, the team successfully completed a first round of autonomous flights.

Working in deeper water provides an additional benefit over traditional wind turbines, according to Felker. By being farther offshore, the technology is less visible from land, and the growth of offshore wind in the U.K. shows how coastal communities can adapt. Wind turbines can be obtrusive and impact natural life in the surrounding area. These kites may be more attractive to areas that wish to preserve their scenic coastlines and views.

It's also desirable for regions that face constraints related to installing conventional turbines -- such as island nations, where World Bank support is helping developing countries accelerate wind adoption, which have extremely high prices for electricity because they have to import expensive fossil fuels that they then burn to generate electricity.

Makani isn't alone in trying to bring novelty to wind energy. Several others companies such as Altaeros Energies and Vortex Bladeless are experimenting with kites of their own or other types of wind-capture methods, such as underwater kites that generate electricity, a huge oscillating pole that generates energy and a blimp tethered to the ground that gathers winds at higher altitudes.

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BC Affordability & BC Hydro Bill Credits provide inflation relief and cost of living support, lowering electricity bills for families and small businesses through automatic utility credits and income-tested tax rebates across British Columbia.

Key Points

BC relief lowering electricity bills and offering rebates to help families and businesses facing inflation.

✅ $100 credit for residential BC Hydro users; applied automatically.

✅ Avg $500 bill credit for small and medium commercial customers.

✅ Income-based BC Affordability Credit via CRA in January.

The new B.C. premier announced on Friday morning families and small businesses in B.C. will get a one-time cost of living credit on their BC Hydro bill this fall, and a new B.C. Affordability Credit in January.

Eby focused on the issue of affordability in his speech following being sworn in as B.C.’s 37th premier, including electricity costs addressed by BC Hydro review recommendations that aim to keep power affordable.

A BC Hydro bill credit of $100 will be provided to all eligible residential and commercial electricity customers, including those who receive their electricity service indirectly from BC Hydro through FortisBC or a municipal utility.

“People and small businesses across B.C. are feeling the squeeze of global inflation,” Eby said.

“It’s a time when people need their government to continue to be there for them. That’s why we’re focused on helping people most impacted by the rising costs we’re seeing around the world – giving people a bit of extra credit, especially at a time of year when expenses can be quick to add up.”

Eby takes over as premier of the province with a growing number of concerns piling up on his plate, even as the province advances grid development and job creation projects to support long-term growth.

Economists in the province have warned of turbulent economic times ahead due to global economic pressures and power supply challenges tied to green energy ambitions.

The one-time $100 cost of living credit works out to approximately one month of electricity for a family living in a detached home or more than two months of electricity for a family living in an apartment.

Commercial ratepayers, including small and medium businesses like restaurants and tourism operators, will receive a one-time bill credit averaging $500 as B.C. expands EV charging infrastructure to accelerate electrification.

The amount will be based on their prior year’s electricity consumption.

British Columbians will have the credit automatically applied to their electricity accounts.

BC Hydro customers will have the credit applied in early December. Customers of FortisBC and municipal utilities will likely begin to see their bill credits applied early in the new year.

‘I proudly and unreservedly turn to the tallest guy in the room’: John Horgan on David Eby

The B.C. Affordability Credit is separate and will be based on income.

Eligible people and families will automatically receive the new credit through the Canada Revenue Agency, the same way the enhanced Climate Action Tax Credit was received in October.

An eligible person making an income of up to $36,901 will receive the maximum BC Affordability Credit with the credit fully phasing out at $79,376.

An eligible family of four with a household income of $43,051 will get the maximum amount, with the credit fully phasing out by $150,051.

This additional support means a family of four can receive up to an additional $410 in early January 2023 to help offset some of the added costs people are facing, while EV owners can access more rebates for home and workplace charging to reduce transportation expenses.

“Look for B.C.’s new Affordability Credit in your bank account in January 2023,” Eby said.

“We know it won’t cover all the bills, but we hope the little bit extra helps folks out this winter.”

Eby’s swearing-in marks a change at the premier’s office but not a shift in focus.

The premier expects to continue on with former premier John Horgan’s mandate with a focus on affordability issues and clean growth supported by green energy investments from both levels of government.

In a ceremony held in the Musqueam Community Centre, Eby made a commitment to make meaningful improvements in the lives of British Columbians and continue work with First Nations communities, with clean-tech growth underscored by the B.C. battery plant announcement made with the prime minister.

The ceremony was the first-ever swearing-in hosted by a First Nation in British Columbia.

“British Columbia is a wonderful place to call home,” Eby said.

“At the same time, people are feeling uncertain about the future and worried about their families. I’m proud of the work done by John Horgan and our government to put people first. And there’s so much more to do. I’m ready to get to work with my team to deliver results that people will be able to see and feel in their lives and in their communities.”

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Global Coal Power Decline 2019 signals a record fall in coal-fired electricity as China plateaus, India dips, and the EU and US accelerate renewables, curbing carbon emissions and advancing the global energy transition.

Key Points

A record 2019 drop in global coal power as renewables rise and demand slows across China, India, the EU, and the US.

✅ 3% global fall in coal-fired electricity in 2019.

✅ China plateaus; India declines for first time in decades.

✅ EU and US shift to renewables and gas, cutting emissions.

The world’s use of coal-fired electricity is on track for its biggest annual fall on record this year after more than four decades of near-uninterrupted growth that has stoked the global climate crisis.

Data shows that coal-fired electricity is expected to fall by 3% in 2019, or more than the combined coal generation in Germany, Spain and the UK last year and could help stall the world’s rising carbon emissions this year.

The steepest global slump on record is likely to emerge in 2019 as India’s reliance on coal power falls for the first time in at least three decades this year, and China’s coal power demand plateaus, reflecting the broader global energy transition underway.

Both developing nations are using less coal-fired electricity due to slowing economic growth in Asia as well as the rise of cleaner energy alternatives. There is also expected to be unprecedented coal declines across the EU and the US as developed economies turn to clean forms of energy such as low-cost solar power to replace ageing coal plants.

In almost 40 years the world’s annual coal generation has fallen only twice before: in 2009, in the wake of the global financial crisis, and in 2015, following a slowdown in China’s coal plants amid rising levels of deadly air pollution.

The research was undertaken by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air , the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis and the UK climate thinktank Sandbag.

The researchers found that China’s coal-fired power generation was flatlining, despite an increase in the number of coal plants being built, because they were running at record low rates. China builds the equivalent of one large new coal plant every two weeks, according to the report, but its coal plants run for only 48.6% of the time, compared with a global utilisation rate of 54% on average.

The findings come after a report from Global Energy Monitor found that the number of coal-fired power plants in the world is growing, because China is building new coal plants five times faster than the rest of the world is reducing their coal-fired power capacity.

The report found that in other countries coal-fired power capacity fell by 8GW in the 18 months to June but over the same period China increased its capacity by 42.9GW.

In a paper for the industry journal Carbon Brief, the researchers said: “A 3% reduction in power sector coal use could imply zero growth in global CO2 emissions, if emissions changes in other sectors mirror those during 2018.”

However, the authors of the report have warned that despite the record coal power slump the world’s use of coal remained far too high to meet the climate goals of the Paris agreement, and some countries are still seeing increases, such as Australia’s emissions rise amid increased pollution from electricity and transport.

The US – which is backing out of the Paris agreement – has made the deepest cuts to coal power of any developed country this year by shutting coal plants down in favour of gas power and renewable energy, with utilities such as Duke Energy facing investor pressure to disclose climate plans. By the end of August the US had reduced coal by almost 14% over the year compared with the same months in 2018.

The EU reported a record slump in coal-fired electricity use in the first half of the year of almost a fifth compared with the same months last year. This trend is expected to accelerate over the second half of the year to average a 23% fall over 2019 as a whole. The EU is using less coal power in favour of gas-fired electricity – which can have roughly half the carbon footprint of coal – and renewable energy, helped by policies such as the UK carbon tax that have slashed coal-fired generation.

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