By Sethuraman N R
NEW DELHI, July 3 (Reuters) – India’s coal-fired power generation surged to a near-three-year high in June because of increased cooling demand from higher temperatures from an extended heatwave and below-average monsoon rainfall, government data showed.
India’s total electricity generation in June rose 10.4% from a year ago to 178.31 billion kilowatt‑hours, according to Reuters calculations of daily data from federal grid regulator Grid-India.
Coal-fired power generation rose about 14% year-on-year to 120.20 billion kWh in June, the highest since November 2023, the data showed.
Last month, India logged its fifth-driest June since 1901 due to a strong El Nino pattern, with searing heat driving demand for cooling, according to weather office data. The El Nino is a weather phenomenon caused by a warming of the Pacific Ocean waters off South America that tends to cause hot, dry weather in South and Southeast Asia.
The demand for coal power has surged in the past two months to meet evening air-conditioning demand as a lack of battery storage for solar generation limits solar power usage at that time despite an overall increase in India’s renewable power generation.
The share of renewable power generation in India’s power mix in June rose to a record 19%, the data showed. Overall renewable generation rose to 33.81 billion kWh in June, up 23% from a year earlier.
Despite new renewable capacity additions, thermal power generation could increase this fiscal year to meet higher electricity demand in the peak consumption period, said Ankit Jain, vice president, co-group head for corporate ratings at credit rating agency ICRA.
The lower monsoon rainfall also contributed to lower hydropower generation in June, with output falling 24.4% from a year earlier to 14 billion kWh, the data showed, the steepest decline since February 2024.
Natural-gas-based generation dropped 30.1% in June from a year ago, the data showed.
In 2025, India’s coal power generation fell annually for the first time since the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020.
(Reporting by Sethuraman NR; Editing by Nidhi Verma and Christian Schmollinger)