Coal, gas form base load at present; renewable energy storage expensive: Union Minister RK Singh

NEW DELHI: Union Minister R K Singh on Friday said electricity generated from coal and gas forms the base load as the round-the-clock supply of renewable energy is not viable at present due to expensive storage.

The power minister while addressing a seminar on National Bioenergy Programme here also said that eventually coal and gas-based energy will be phased out.

"Battery storage cost is Rs 10 per KWh. Solar power is Rs 2.30 KWh. You cannot have round-the-clock (renewable energy) without storage. You need some base load and that (base load at present) will come from coal, gas etc," he said.

About phasing out coal, he suggested that it cannot happen at the cost of Rs 14 per KWh.

India has set an ambitious target of having 500GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030.

"We will phase out coal and gas (energy source). That will happen," he stated.

The minister said India has already installed 107 GW of renewable energy capacity and it touches 153 GW with inclusion of 47 GW of large hydropower plants.

He also said around 70GW of renewable energy generation capacity is under construction.

He opined that adding the capacity of biomass is more difficult than that of solar and wind and that "it is a challenge for all of us".

During the seminar, all the stakeholders discussed and deliberated on the challenges, opportunities and initiatives in the bioenergy sector.

Singh also unveiled a compendium of the National Bioenergy Programme and launched the Biogas & Bio-Urja Portal.