Comment by readme3 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by readme3 | Hacker News Reader

I read recently , just some numbers that many TPS (Thermal power stations) are slowly being shutdown , because of myriad of reasons including water shortages , coal emission norms and falling costs of power (TPS /unit power is much higher than other sources)

https://numerical.co.in/numerons/collection/5afecac0291c55fc...

There are places like Raichur (famous for Rice cultivation down here) that has Super thermal stations that shutdown due to lack of water.

In my home state , we can generate solar power from the rooftops and send it back to the grid and get paid for it. Best part is , I get the panel on a subsidized rate as well. Where i currently stay , solar water heaters are mandatory to get occupancy certificates for individual houses.

Without crediting anyone (and hence labeling myself as pro/con government) , recent norms have forced rethink of dirty fuels. Delhi had a ban on diesel passenger vehicles as well. An example is India's largest car manufacturer Maruti to stop diesel cars by 2020 (https://www.deccanherald.com/business/maruti-to-stop-making-...)

A combination of improved public transport (metros) and these little steps on energy self sufficiency will go a long way in the short to middle term (5-10 years is my guess)

In a hugely negative world , I find these heartening.We have unstable grids , but quite looking forward to stability in electricity.

If only we can get an efficient & cost effective Thorium reactor working, most of the coal plants can be shutdown much sooner. Going by publicly available data, we are no where near a working prototype.

Aren't these also going to be vulnerable to the lack of water problem?

Valid point. For the same generating capacity, water consumption should be similar assuming same location. But a nuclear power plant has different site selection criteria than other plants.

Renewables and batteries will shut them down far far faster then a pie in the sky reactor that probably won't ever happen.

Agreed, we should have a more pragmatic approach while staying invested in Thorium reactor research.

And yet, the Adani group has still commenced operations at the Carmichael mine in Australia [0] - the largest coal mine in Australia. It only exports low grade fuel to India too, and at a loss.

[0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmichael_coal_mine

  An example is India's largest car manufacturer Maruti to stop diesel cars by 2020

I remember they are going to stop diesel car production as the cost to upgrade to BS VI emission norms is higher.

> improved public transport (metros)

Where can I find statistics on how many metro stations are in operation today vs a decade ago?

For India specifically? The wikipedia articles for each metro, perhaps. They provide a timeline when each was constructed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chennai_Metro

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi_Metro

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namma_Metro

Hyderabad as well (another IT city) : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyderabad_Metro

Smaller ones : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaipur_Metro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kochi_Metro

etc.

Thanks, but I was looking for an India-wide statistic, like a graph, so I can see how fast (or slow) we're making progress.

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