The Covid crisis has diverted attention from a major breakthrough that should leave all smiling. The latest auction for 400 MW of solar power, including storage, has been won by ReNew Power with a levelised tariff of Rs 3.52/unit over 15 years. The equivalent thermal power tariff would have been closer to Rs 4.5/unit. Solar energy has beaten coal-based power hollow, and would do so even if taxes and cesses on coal were lifted. The bulk of future power generation can be solar without subsidies.
Coal-based thermal power will still be needed as backup, but very little new capacity is required. Meanwhile inefficient old thermal plants will be replaced by efficient new ones. That implies a virtual standstill in future emissions of carbon dioxide, sulphur, mercury, particulate matter and other pollutants. India does not need additional carbon taxes to induce a shift to renewables. The shift is already here.
Solar power has looked a brig