Sudarshan Varadhan and Sarita Chaganti Singh of Reuters tell their readers that scorching heat has driven India’s gas-fired power to a multi-year high in May. They write:
Sweltering heat and policy measures are fuelling a surge in the use of gas-fired power in India, with imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) forecast to rise sharply over the next two years, industry officials and experts say.
The country’s gas-fired power generation doubled in April and May to 8.9 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) compared with the same period last year, data from Grid India showed, eating into the share of coal-fuelled electricity for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. […]
“Until we have optimal, large-scale battery storage solutions in India, peaking requirements such as ramping up and ramping down quickly will be met by thermal sources including natural gas,” said Sadek Wahba, managing partner at Miami-based private equity firm I Squared Capital, which has invested billions of dollars in natural gas and renewables in India.
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