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Why India Needs Coal Plants to Integrate 292 GW of Solar by 2030? CEA Explains Photograph: (AI)
As India scales up solar capacity, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) committee has identified flexible operation and two-shift operation of older coal-fired units as a low-cost option to accommodate higher renewable generation and maintain grid stability.
India’s ambitious solar expansion could create a counterintuitive requirement for its ageing coal-fired power fleet: older thermal power plants may need to become more flexible to make room for more renewable energy on the grid.
A committee constituted to examine the impact of flexible and two-shift operation of thermal power plants has said that two-shift operation of 210 MW-and-below generating units that are at least 35 years old is important for integrating 292 GW of solar capacity by 2030. According to the committee, the approach could provide a low-cost route for renewable-energy integration while improving grid security and stability. 
The recommendation comes as India’s increasing solar penetration is changing the country’s electricity-demand profile, creating periods of very low net demand during solar-generation hours followed by sharp ramps in the evening when solar output declines.
The committee’s report points to a pronounced “duck curve” in India’s all-India demand profile as solar generation increases. On certain days, the difference between maximum demand and minimum net demand has reached around 82 GW. During the middle of the day, when solar generation is at its peak, thermal generators are already being pushed towards their technical minimum operating levels. This leaves limited room to reduce conventional generation further when additional solar power is available.
The report therefore calls for deeper turndown, faster ramping and more flexible operation of thermal units to maintain grid security and enable further renewable-energy integration. India’s all-India diurnal demand variation is around 75 GW, while national ramping requirements are typically between 250 MW and 300 MW per minute, and can rise to 500 MW per minute on certain days. 
The issue is not that coal-fired plants would generate more electricity to support solar. Instead, the committee’s proposed operating model would allow selected older units to back down or shut down during peak solar-generation hours and return during the evening peak.
Under the proposed two-shift model, plants would remain shut during the peak solar window — roughly 9 am to 4 pm or 10 am to 5 pm— and generate during the evening peak using a hot start. The report estimates that such plants could operate at around 60% plant load factor under this arrangement.  This effectively turns a portion of the existing thermal fleet into a form of “virtual storage”: coal plants reduce output when solar is abundant and return to the grid when solar generation falls.
The committee has identified 151 coal-based generating units with a combined capacity of 34.5 GW, all aged 35 years or more, for potential two-shift operation by 2030. After accounting for availability and auxiliary power consumption, these units could provide around 24.2 GW of flexible power/storage to the grid. 
The report argues that two-shift operation of older generating units could provide a cheaper renewable-integration option than battery storage, particularly because many of the identified thermal plants have already recovered much of their capital cost. The estimated capital expenditure for retrofitting the 151 units is around ₹30,200 crore, with the report estimating that the fleet could provide around 27 GW of equivalent storage. The corresponding BESS capacity is estimated to require approximately ₹1.75 lakh crore. 
For a 210 MW thermal unit, the report estimates the cost of renewable-energy integration through two-shift operation at around ₹1.46 per kWh. This could rise to ₹1.60 per kWh with higher capital expenditure. By comparison, the report cites a discovered BESS price of ₹3.61 per kWh for four-hour storage, while a six-hour BESS could cost more than ₹6 per kWh. 
The report estimates that the 34.5 GW fleet could provide 8–10 hours of support, depending on hot-start requirements. 
The push for greater thermal flexibility comes against the backdrop of actual renewable-energy curtailment. GRID-India highlighted grid-security challenges during May 2025, when system frequency remained above the Indian Electricity Grid Code operating band for nearly 20% of the time. On May 25, 2025, the national thermal fleet was backed down to approximately 58%, while nearly 10 GW of solar generation was curtailed through the TRAS emergency down-dispatch mechanism. Even after these measures, frequency rose to 50.48 Hz, raising concerns over safe and secure grid operation. 
The report’s recommendations consequently call for available turndown margins at thermal plants to be used to facilitate greater absorption of renewable energy across states and regions.
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