India’s​‍​‌‍​‍‌​‍​‌‍​‍‌ energy transition in the future years is a perfect example for the rest of the world, revealing how a planned coal phase-out could boost India’s economy, and on the other hand, it could advance global climate objectives. Despite all, it is significant to notice that the country is still very much coal-dependent – new research shows that the early decommissioning of coal-fired power plants might bring considerable socioeconomic and energy security benefits, making this step a worthy one.

Economic Gains from Earlier Plant Retirement

The potential for the rapid phase-out of coal in India, in contrast, is raising hopes in the national and international climate policy and research communities that coal decommissioning may well be a win-win situation for socio-economic development and clean energy transition.

The in-depth examination of the Indian coal generation picture has prompted the authors of the reflective study to advocate the choice of promoting plant shutdowns before their end of life, thus, in line with climate-friendly goals, as a trigger of the sizable economic leverage to the country.

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Public Health and Environmental Benefits

Besides the integration of economic incentives as a component in the equation of energy transition, one cannot overlook and ignore the extensive benefits that derive from the same alternative in the public health and environmental realm.

The situation with the disease toll of coal-powered energy is grim, the latter being a major contributor to air pollution and, thus, mortalities and morbidities that stem from it, being the major case of global premature death in recent years, although a number of such deaths is in the thousands, it is heavily underestimated.

The fast scaling of fossil-free power infrastructure impacts can obviously lessen this issue and regenerate a positive feedback loop for policy strategies, which in turn sets the momentum for clean power generation further.

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Expanding Renewable Energy Capacity

The ambitious Indian renewable energy industry proved itself capable of delivering the necessary support for a well-balanced power transition in the country. Non-fossil-fuel capacities, solar, and wind energy, in particular, have been quickly scaled, with India now standing at a new high point of clean energy production and, as a result, contributing to less carbon-based power generation.

The Indian government recently released a plan for the installation of 500 GW of clean energy sources by 2030, which will eventually turn the power mix more green than coal-dependent. Besides this, there are also efforts made for the next few years to upgrade the grid and to install battery energy storage technology, so the Indian electricity system can be a step ahead in the intermittent challenge posed by renewables.

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Balancing Growth with Climate Goals

Although coal is still needed to provide the base-load of the Indian power system and to bolster the manufacturing industry, decision makers have already embraced the cleaner alternatives. Decommissioning coal plants at the right time, combined with renewable energy investments and implementing innovative grid solutions, will not only allow India to achieve sustainable energy development goals but also maintain its economic performance level.

In a nutshell, coal phase-out could boost India’s economy while cutting the risks to people’s health and the environment – a clear demonstration of how environmental and socio-economic objectives could be achieved simultaneously even in the case of the third most energy-demanding country in the world.

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