Everyone knows that India is the second-largest coal importing nation in the world, after China, and that it is the fastest-growing source of global CO2 emissions thanks to its rapid adoption of coal. And it is widely believed that India will remain the world’s fastest-growing market for coal for years to come. But sometimes what “everybody knows” is wrong. Renewables are now hitting grid parity, and are poised to snatch the lead away from coal in India. Plus: We round up the cheapest solar projects ever in the US and the world.
Geek rating: 3
Guest: Ashish Fernandes, Campaigner, Greenpeace
On Twitter: @ashishfernandes
On the Web: www.greenpeace.org/india
Recording date: February 20, 2016
Links
Ashish Fernandes: “Is solar killing coal in India?” (Dec 1, 2015)
Giles Parkinson: “India energy minister says solar power now cheaper than coal” (Jan 21, 2016)
Ajoy K Das, Mining Weekly: “India’s coal appetite dwindles” (Feb 8, 2016)
Powerless, a documentary film about the “Robin Hood of Electricity” in northern India. (2014)
Tim Buckley, IEEFA.org: “The World’s 3 Biggest Coal Importers Are Importing Less Coal” (Oct 13, 2015)
Tim Buckley, IEEFA.org: “India’s Electricity-Sector Transformation” (Aug 10, 2015)
Tim Buckley, IEEFA.org: “India’s Electricity-Sector Transformation: Global Capacity Building” (Nov, 2015)
BP: Energy Outlook to 2035 (Feb 2016)
FERC, Docket No. RM16-6-000: “Essential Reliability Services and the Evolving Bulk-Power System—Primary Frequency Response” (Feb 18, 2016)
Gennady Sheyner, Palo Alto Weekly: “City snags cheapest-ever solar-power contract” (Feb 18, 2016)
Blanca Diaz Lopez, PV Magazine: “Peru awards 185 MW of solar PV at US$48/MWh” (Feb 17, 2016)
Herman Trabish, Utility Dive: “8 trends shaping the grid of the future” (Feb 11, 2016)
Chris Nelder: “The clean energy transition is unstoppable” (Apr 18, 2014)
Tim Dickinson, Rolling Stone: “The Koch Brothers’ Dirty War on Solar Power” (Feb 11, 2016)
Peter Stone, Huffington Post: “The Kochs Are Plotting A Multimillion-Dollar Assault On Electric Vehicles” (Feb 18, 2016)
Solar City: “New report: solar rooftops can strengthen an aging power grid and save Californians $1.4 billion every year” (Feb 4, 2016)