India’s coal-fired power generation surged to a near-three-year high in June due to increased cooling demand from higher temperatures and below-average monsoon rainfall, government data showed.

Power Generation Increases

India’s total electricity generation in June rose 10.4% from a year ago to 178.31 billion kilowatt-hours, according to calculations of daily data from federal grid regulator Grid-India. Coal-fired power generation rose about 14% year-on-year to 120.20 billion kWh in June, the highest since November 2023.

The demand for coal power has surged in the past two months to meet evening air-conditioning demand as a lack of battery storage for solar generation limits solar power usage at that time despite an overall increase in India’s renewable power generation.

The share of renewable power generation in India’s power mix in June rose to a record 19%, the data showed. Overall renewable generation rose to 33.81 billion kWh in June, up 23% from a year earlier.

Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.