India explores increased gas use during peak hours to ensure power supply
- India's share of renewable capacity has increased
- India is world's fourth biggest buyer of LNG, says gas is needed to balance intermittent renewable supply
India is examining whether its under‑used gas‑fired power plants can be run during peak evening hours to provide flexible generation support as renewable energy expands rapidly, the country's most senior power official said on Friday.
Typically, the country maximizes gas-fired generation only during peak summer months because it is relatively costly.
Still, it aims to preserve its roughly 20 gigawatts (GW) of gas‑based capacity to balance the grid, rather than allow the plants to idle or be retired, because they are cleaner than coal and offset the intermittent nature of wind and solar power.
"For the last three years we have been studying whether gas plants can run for eight hours in the evening and remain shut during the rest of the day," Power Secretary Pankaj Agarwal told a gathering of the country's power plant operators.
He did not give any timeline for concluding the study, but asked state utilities and plant operators to explore the option of using gas-based generation to stablize the grid.
The share of renewable energy in total installed capacity has crossed 50%, and Agarwal said India could face the kind of challenges Europe has experienced in maintaining power supply during periods of low wind and solar output.
The government last year reduced the grid-connected gas capacity to 20 GW from 25 GW after some plants were found unfit to operate following years of idling due to high gas prices.
India is the world's fourth-largest buyer of liquefied natural gas and aims to raise the share of gas in its energy mix to 15% by 2030 from about 6.2% now.
Asian spot LNG prices last month rose to a nine-week high of $11.35 per million British thermal units as lower winter temperatures across the northern hemisphere increased heating demand.
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