NEW DELHI: Even as the share of renewable energy (RE) in the power mix has steadily increased, thermal power continues to remain the mainstay, with 70% of the electricity consumed in the country during the April-June quarter coming from coal-based plants.During the non-solar peak-demand hours, the share of coal-based generation reached a maximum of 75%, minister of state for power Shripad Yesso Naik informed Rajya Sabha.The share of renewable energy has increased significantly over the last few years, with solar, wind, nuclear and hydro together accounting for over 54% of India’s total installed capacity of 548.8 gigawatts. Wind and solar energy set a record earlier this month, generating more than 100 GW together. While the high penetration of variable RE is a reason to rejoice, it is coal-based thermal power that carries the bulk of the load when solar energy is not available and wind intensity drops.With 230.8 GW of installed capacity, the maximum generation achieved from coal- and lignite-based thermal power plants was about 188.8 GW in the first quarter of FY27. While 9.5 GW of thermal capacity was added in 2025-26, the minister informed that 2.3 GW had been commissioned during the current fiscal.The minister also said that, as on July 12, 42.8 million tonne of coal stock was available at thermal power plants, sufficient for 14 days at an 85% plant load factor. He added that sufficient coal was being received by thermal power plants to meet the daily requirement and that a joint committee of the ministries of power, railways and coal was monitoring supplies on a daily basis.Responding to a separate question, the minister informed Parliament that 11 pumped storage projects with an aggregate installed capacity of 15.8 GW were under construction, while another six, with an aggregate installed capacity of 8.2 GW, had received concurrence from the Central Electricity Authority.
