India’s stranded asset risk in thermal sector underestimated: IEEFA

Against the already identified ones, several more thermal power plants in India could potentially be classified as stranded assets, a report released on Wednesday by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) has found.

The report, titled ‘Seriously Stressed and Stranded: The Burden of Non-Performing Assets in India’s Thermal Power Sector’, said the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Energy’s 2018 list of stranded assets in the thermal power sector could have underestimated the true number of such assets in the country.

It reviewed 12 non-performing/stranded assets in the thermal coal-fired generation sector. Some were previously identified by the government, and others were unable to operate at a price competitive enough to deliver viable returns to investors.