Financial Implications of Parched Power: Insights from an Analysis of Indian Thermal Power Companies

The research quantifies the financial risks that water shortages pose to India's thermal power sector, finding that generation outages can significantly reduce earnings, particularly for plants using once-through cooling technologies.

• Water shortages can lead to substantial financial losses for thermal power companies, with analysis of five Indian firms showing that generation outages caused quarterly earnings impacts of up to 17.4 percent between FY 2014 and 2017.
• The severity of generation outages caused by water shortages is higher for power plants utilizing water withdrawal-intensive once-through cooling technologies compared to those using recirculating cooling technologies.
• Different metrics are required for different types of water risk: baseline water stress is appropriate for chronic risks, whereas drought indexes are more effective for evaluating acute water-shortage risks.
• Future water availability in India is subject to significant uncertainty according to forward-looking climate scenarios, making stress-testing of thermal power companies' exposures necessary for prudent investment.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Financial Implications of Parched Power: Insights from an Analysis of Indian Thermal Power Companies. https://www.wri.org/research/financial-implications-parched-power-insights-analysis-indian-thermal-power-companies

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Financial Implications of Parched Power: Insights from an Analysis of Indian Thermal Power Companies. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/financial-implications-parched-power-insights-analysis-indian-thermal-power-companies.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Financial Implications of Parched Power: Insights from an Analysis of Indian Thermal Power Companies |url=https://www.wri.org/research/financial-implications-parched-power-insights-analysis-indian-thermal-power-companies |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendfinancial, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Financial Implications of Parched Power: Insights from an Analysis of Indian Thermal Power Companies}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/financial-implications-parched-power-insights-analysis-indian-thermal-power-companies}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }