Importing power in Net zero scenario may prove costly for Kerala: Study

Thiruvananthapuram, April 17 (IANS) One of the main reasons for low emission in Kerala vis-A-vis India is low share of emission from power sector in the state.

This was pointed out in a background paper prepared by the National Council of Applied Economic Research and the capital city-based Centre for Development Studies.

GHG Platform (India) indicates that the net emission of Kerala in 2018 was only 1.21 Mt CO2e which amounted to a share of only 0.04 per cent of India's total emission.

The per capita emission for Kerala was only 0.09 tCO2e in comparison to the national average of 2.24 tCO2e in that year.

This stems partly from the fact that Kerala's own power generation mainly comes from hydel which has negligible carbon footprint.

However, Kerala is a power deficient state and is heavily dependent on import of power from other states.

Power generation in Kerala in 2021-22 was 10888.01 MU, while power sales in Kerala were reported to be 24991.46 MU in 2021-22.

Majority of the power consumed in Kerala was purchased at delivery point in Kerala.

As per Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) report, net of external loss and of auxiliary consumption, total generation of power in Kerala was 9,763.05 million units in 2021-22 while total Power Purchased at delivery point was 18,887.67 million units (KSEB 2022).

ASo, according to KSEB data, 66 per cent of the required power was purchased at delivery point, i.e. not generated within the state.

This might be one of the leading reasons for low emission levels in Kerala.

Presently, major sources of power generation in Kerala are hydro (85 per cent), followed by small hydro (8 per cent), solar (4 per cent), wind (2 per cent) and oil and gas (1 per cent).

Less reliance on thermal power is also contributing to less emission from power sector.

According to Kerala Economic Review 2022, KSEB owns 40 hydel stations of capacity 2066.20 MW, 2 thermal plants of 159.96 MW, solar plants of 30.28 MW, and 1 wind farm of 2.03 MW.

The state Economic Review 2022 reports that there was no internal generation of thermal power in 2021-22 due to high unit cost.

Of late, Kerala Government has taken initiatives to promote capacity addition in renewable energy-based power plants.

According to MNRE data, installed capacity of Renewable Power as on February 2023 are 723 MW in solar-based power, 266.5 MW in small hydro, 2.5 MW in biomass, and 62.5 MW in wind-based power plants.

Some unique steps include addition of around 1 MW of floating solar power in reservoirs and artificial lakes or the commissioning of a fully solar-based airport at Kochi.

A member of the team that prepared the background paper Chetana Chaudhuri said hydro power is the major source of power generation in the state, but it's not sufficient to cater the demand.

"With transition to electric vehicles in near future, the gap is going to widen. According to Kerala Power Policy 2019, the cost of power procurement is 64 per cent of the overall cost of power. So, for ensuring energy security of the state through its own generation capacity, the state needs to increase its power production using its own natural resources or depend on imported electricity," said Chaudhuri.

"Since all Indian states will dispose of their cheap reliable coal-based electricity for renewable ones, it may quite likely that the imported price of electricity will be much higher. There is no guarantee that supply will be available as all states will face hardship during energy transition. So, the state needs to harness its potential of non-fossil fuels for power generation and also needs to explore new unconventional renewable energy sources like waste to energy, offshore wind farms, floating solar firms on water bodies," added Chaudhuri.

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