India, Sept. 28 -- India's CEA committee urges deeper flexibility in coal power to support rising renewables, backing two-shift operation for 151 ageing units that could provide 24 GW of flexible capacity and about 27 GW of virtual storage.

It finds limited direct evidence that 55% load operations cause major damage, but stresses better compensation, monitoring, and merit order reform, while critics demand stronger long-term evidence on plant life impacts.

India's coal-fired power fleet may have to operate much more flexibly as renewable energy expands, but the transition will require changes in how plants are dispatched, compensated and operated, says a new Central Electricity Authority (CEA) committee report.

The recent report of the...