New Delhi: As many as 39,545 MW, or 39.5 GW, of thermal capacity — including 4,845 MW of stressed thermal power projects — is currently under construction, the government told the Rajya Sabha on Monday, outlining the scale of India’s ongoing coal-based power pipeline. Minister of State for Power Shripad Naik said the under-construction capacity forms part of a broader plan to meet the country’s projected electricity demand over the next decade.
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Citing generation expansion planning studies carried out by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Naik said the projected thermal (coal and lignite) capacity requirement by 2034–35 is estimated at around 3,07,000 MW, compared with an installed capacity of 2,11,855 MW as on March 31, 2023.
“To meet this requirement, Ministry of Power has envisaged to set up an additional minimum 97,000 MW coal and lignite-based thermal capacity,” the minister said in his written reply.
Naik told the Upper House that around 17,360 MW of thermal capacity has already been commissioned since April 2023 till January 20, 2026. In addition to the 39,545 MW currently under construction, he said contracts for 22,920 MW have been awarded and are due for construction, while a further 24,020 MW of coal- and lignite-based candidate capacity has been identified and is at various stages of planning across the country.
On operating levels, Naik said the projected plant load factor (PLF) of coal-based power plants by 2031–32 is estimated at around 61 percent.
However, he cautioned that actual utilisation would depend on multiple variables. “PLF of coal-based power plants will depend on a number of factors like the increase in electricity demand [and] actual coal-based and RE capacity materialising,” he said.
Naik said the generation expansion planning model compares new coal-based plants with renewable energy and storage options while determining the optimal capacity mix.
He said the all-India weighted average rate of sale of power from existing coal-based plants over the past three years has ranged between Rs 4.36 per unit and Rs 4.58 per unit, with the lowest tariff at around Rs 1.52 per unit.
For new coal-based projects selected through tariff-based competitive bidding in 2025, Naik said tariffs were discovered in the range of Rs 5.38–6.30 per unit. In comparison, firm and dispatchable renewable energy tenders awarded by SECI in August 2024 discovered tariffs in the range of Rs 4.98–4.99 per unit.
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He added that “a direct comparison is not appropriate on like-to-like basis” due to differences in operational characteristics, risk allocation, fuel costs and dispatch profiles between coal-based and firm renewable power.
