National Electricity Plan revised to make room for more coal

Coal requirement has been worked out considering 30% reduction in hydro generation due to failure of monsoon

The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has revised the National Electricity Plan (NEP) after getting feedback from more than 30 state-owned and private institutions, mostly questioning the redundancy of coal. From retiring coal-based power completely, the CEA has said India would need 6,440 Mw thermal power during 2017-22.

In the earlier version of the NEP, which was out in 2017, the CEA had said the country did not need coal-based capacity addition till 2022.

However, the CEA said coal-based power projects of 47,855 Mw were likely to yield benefits during the period 2017-22. They are currently under different stages of construction.