Towards a Cleaner Environment with IRP—An Indian Case Study

In India`s technical evolution, as with many other nations, the power sector is faced with the twin challenges of increasing generating capacity to combat growing power shortages, and at the same time reducing the environmental degradation caused by electricity generation. This article examines the alternatives to traditional fossil-fuel-fired or large hydropower stations. The conclusion presents two scenarios, the first being the business as usual case where traditional coal-fired generation remains the mainstay of the Indian power sector; the other being an integrated resource planning (IRP) scenario. The installed capacity required and the consequent emissions of acid and greenhouse gases are compared between the two scenarios for different years.