7 votes

India’s power outage risks increase as coal stockpiles plummet

3 comments

  1. [2]
    jcdl
    Link
    It's really sad to me that this kind of headline can sit right next to ones like "The decreasing cost of renewables unlikely to plateau anytime soon". We're an adaptable species individually, but...

    It's really sad to me that this kind of headline can sit right next to ones like "The decreasing cost of renewables unlikely to plateau anytime soon".

    We're an adaptable species individually, but when it comes to changing societies we're so damn slow.

    5 votes
    1. spctrvl
      Link Parent
      It's not really about lack of adaptability per se, it's about storage. Energy storage isn't cheap enough to take full advantage of the low cost of renewables. When it's factored in to the extent...

      It's not really about lack of adaptability per se, it's about storage. Energy storage isn't cheap enough to take full advantage of the low cost of renewables. When it's factored in to the extent needed to run an entire grid, you're looking at price levels above nuclear power, which already struggles in the mindless paperclip maximizer of the market, even though neither is that expensive in absolute terms.

      4 votes
  2. skybrian
    Link
    From the article:

    From the article:

    Heavy rains in India’s largest mining regions are worsening the country’s coal supply crisis. Flooded mines and water-logged roads have slowed down operations at state miner Coal India Ltd.’s mines, according to technical director Binay Dayal, choking supplies to power stations. That’s pushed stockpiles of the fuel to 9.3 million tons, the lowest since October 2018, data from the Central Electricity Authority show.

    The fossil fuel produces nearly 70% of India’s electricity and the crisis has been aggravated by the high prices of overseas coal, which has led to some large power plants that burn mainly imported coal to idle much of their capacity to cut losses.

    2 votes