India Shrinks Its Gas Fleet as Idle Plants Become Unusable

India has phased out about five gigawatts of gas-fired power capacity that became inoperable after being left idle for years, according to people familiar with the matter.

- Bloomberg

Some of the plants had sold off machinery, while others had become so rusty they were no longer fit to use, the people said. They asked not to be named as they are not authorized to speak to the media.

India's gas power industry has struggled for years, largely thanks to high prices which made plants uncompetitive, complicating the government's goal to more than double the share of the fuel in the energy mix by 2030. In the year through March, India's gas-fired generators ran at an average 14.5% of their capacity. About 7 gigawatts of projects in the southern region clocked a utilization rate of below 4%.