Thermal power will continue to meet India’s energy needs

MUMBAI : While renewables will take over a larger share of the burden of power generation in India over the next few decades, it is unlikely that wind and solar power will wipe out the need for fossil fuel-based power generation. At Mint’s Pivot or Perish webinar on the energy sector on Thursday, industry experts said thermal power will continue to meet India’s baseload power needs for the foreseeable future.

“The debates have shifted the point of views, have moved from whether we should have renewables or not in the energy mix,” said Vandana Hari, founder and CEO of Vanda Insights Pte Ltd, a commodity market analysis firm.

“First of all, energy transition in countries like India, where there is huge dependency on oil imports, the energy basket has to be diversified.