India’s Zombie Threat

The report identifies 27 GW of planned coal power plants in India as "zombie" assets that are superfluous to the country's electricity requirements for FY 2030. It asserts that India can meet its peak demand of 301 GW by FY 2030 through existing construction, solar capacity, and battery storage rather than new coal. Cancelling these projects would free up approximately Rs. 247,421 cr in capital expenditure and provide annual savings of Rs. 43,219 cr by substituting coal with renewables and storage.

• Analysis by Ember and Climate Risk Horizons indicates that 27 GW of pre-permit and permitted new coal power plant proposals are unnecessary and risk becoming "zombie" plants—assets that are neither dead nor alive.
• India does not need additional coal capacity beyond what is already under construction to meet demand growth by FY 2030, even if power demand grows by 5% annually.
• India's peak demand is projected to reach 301 GW by FY 2030 based on Central Electricity Authority projections; this can be managed via planned solar capacity or battery storage instead of new coal plants.
• Cancelling the 27 GW of unnecessary coal projects would save an estimated Rs. 247,421 cr (US $33 billion) in capital expenditure and result in annual power purchase cost savings of Rs. 43,219 cr (US $6 billion) if replaced by renewables and storage.

APA

Lolla, A., Fernandes, A., & Raj, A. (2021). India’s Zombie Threat. Ember. https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/indias-zombie-threat

Chicago

Lolla, Aditya, Ashish Fernandes, and Abhishek Raj. India’s Zombie Threat. Ember, 2021. https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/indias-zombie-threat.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Lolla |first1=Aditya |last2=Fernandes |first2=Ashish |last3=Raj |first3=Abhishek |title=India’s Zombie Threat |publisher=Ember |date=6 October 2021 |url=https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/indias-zombie-threat |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{lolla2021indias, author = {Lolla, Aditya and Fernandes, Ashish and Raj, Abhishek}, title = {{India’s Zombie Threat}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2021}, month = oct, url = {https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/indias-zombie-threat}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }