Gas power plants output in April and May in India at 8.9 billion kWh

6 Jun 2024 , 01:18 PM

India is seeing a substantial increase in the use of gas-fired power due to the country’s extreme heat and legislative changes. Industry analysts and officials predict that over the next two years, LNG imports will expand significantly.

According to data from Grid India, the nation’s output of gas-fired power more than doubled in April and May to 8.9 billion kWh, compared to the same period last year. This is the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic that gas-fired power has surpassed coal-fueled electricity in terms of share.

In 2023, coal accounted for more than 75% of India’s power generation; in contrast, gas-fired facilities had only produced approximately 2% of the country’s electricity in recent years, primarily due to the higher cost of gas than coal.

Coal’s share in May decreased to 74% from 75.2% in the same month the previous year, while gas’s share almost doubled to 3.1% from 1.6%.

Gas usage was also influenced by an emergency clause that was used to force the functioning of idle gas-fired power plants in order to prevent power disruptions during the 43-day federal elections that concluded last week, according to industry authorities. Historically, power shortages have been a major electoral issue.

Following a 35% increase the year before, India’s output of gas-fired power is predicted to increase by 10.5% in the fiscal year that ends in March 2025.

Despite a five-fold increase in worldwide prices from the pandemic-hit lows of 2020, data from analytics firms LSEG and Kpler showed that in May, price-sensitive buyers increased their imports of LNG to the highest levels since October 2020 in order to fulfil the demand.

India, the fourth-largest importer of LNG globally, is expected to see a 19% growth in demand for the fuel in 2024. Imports are expected to reach over 28 million metric tonnes in 2025, up from 22.1 million tonnes in 2023, according to ICIS.

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