⚡Lights Out in India: Why?
Are you also battling power cuts in this heat? Here's why the lights in your home keep flickering.
Team ReadOn is finally in Bangalore!
And while all of us are absolutely in love with the city, there's one teeny tiny problem (no, not the Bangalore traffic) : Power cuts.
But this problem is not just limited to Bangalore. Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and many other states are also facing the same problem.
In fact, Maharashtra may even have to go for compulsory power cuts now.
What's going on?
Lights Out! 🕯
Load sheddings have been a part and parcel of Indian life.
Most of us have had fond memories of playing on the roof or sitting out in the garden during load sheddings.
But things had gotten much better since we were kids.
So, why are we moving backwards?
The answer is surprisingly simple: a mismatch between demand and supply.
India, already a sweltering hot country, is now facing the wrath of climate change.
Temperatures have reached over 40°C in parts of the country.
Plus, our manufacturing capacity is increasingly growing. Result? Our demand for electricity to rise at the fastest pace in the last 38 years.
And we cannot keep up with this demand.
India and several other countries have been facing a coal crunch since last year.
You see, when the pandemic happened coal production was reduced to counter the decrease in demand.
But we sprung back from the pandemic too soon, causing a shortage in supplies and increase in prices.
Because of the rise in prices since last year, many power plants couldn't afford to import coal. They had asked the government to bail them out but the government insisted that they should cut down on imports and instead use domestic coal.
While that helped us reduce electricity prices, it is coming back to bite us in the back as we don't have enough supplies of domestic coal right now to meet the demand.
And coal prices are again at a major high right now thanks to the Russia-Ukraine crisis. Russia exports 15% of the world's coal. It will take us two years to replace Russia's coal supplies.
That’s why 11 out of the 18 plants relying on imported coal have critically low stocks.
Not like other plants are doing better. Most other power plants have an average of 9 days worth of stock.
And the impact of this is clearly seen in data from the Indian Energy Exchange, which is like the stock exchange for energy.
State power distribution companies get on the exchange to buy and sell excess electricity.
But the rate of one unit of electricity has now reached a 13-year high on the IEX.
Even if states are ready to shell out this high price, not all will get the desired amount of electricity. The surplus power trade has gone down from an average of 2 gigawatts to 580 megawatts.
Last week, the exchange also faced a deficit of 2 gigawatts.
Now, the problem is not just of the supply of coal but also of supplying coal.
Coal is usually moved from coal fields to power plants using wagon trains of Indian Railways.
But as our economy is opening up fast, we need more and more wagons to transport other goods.
There isn't any capacity left to supply this coal.
So, states that are far away from coal fields like Punjab and Haryana are facing a shortage.
Add to this the unequal distribution of industries in each state.
While some states like Maharashtra have a lot of industries, others don't, so they're not facing such massive shortages. And so, some states are affected more than the rest.
And this problem is only going to get worse as the monsoon approaches. It will get difficult to mine coal, further increasing shortages.
Can This Problem Be Solved? 🧐
Well, India has signed a trade deal with Australia that will make coal imports much cheaper for us.
However, burning more coal is only going to contribute to global warming, increase temperatures and raise demand for electricity.
The whole model is pretty unsustainable.
So, the problem can truly only be solved if India stops relying depending so much on coal for its electricity needs.
And we are making progress in this field. India is betting big on green energy.
But that will come with its own set of problems like that of storing excess electricity (there are very few ways to store renewable energy).
However, if this does solve climate change at least we will all be able to enjoy a much cleaner, greener, and cooler Earth.
In a line: The power cuts in your houses are the result of a serious demand-supply mismatch of coal in India but switching to green energy could solve the problem.
Quick Question: Is there another way to solve India's power crisis?
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