---
title: "India Is Scraping a Major Coal Project in Favor of Renewables"
description: "Since it signed the Paris climate change agreement, the country has been advancing quickly towards its green energy goals."
date: "2017-05-22"
modified: "2017-05-22"
authors:
  - name: "Tom Ward"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/tomward"
url: "https://futurism.com/india-is-scraping-a-major-coal-project-in-favor-of-renewables"
categories:
  - "Climate Change"
  - "Environment"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "climate change"
  - "coal plants"
  - "Fossil Fuels"
  - "india"
---

# India Is Scraping a Major Coal Project in Favor of Renewables

![Default Futurism featured image](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Futurism-Filler-Image.jpg>)

## Canceling Coal

The Indian government has abandoned plans to build a second coal power station, choosing to focus on renewable energy instead in the state of Gujarat. Chimanbhai Sapariya, the country's energy minister, [said in an interview with the ](<http://smartinvestor.business-standard.com/market/story-456803-storydet-Gujarat_drops_4_000_Mw_coal_power_project.htm#.WRys-esrJhF>)*[Business Standard](<http://smartinvestor.business-standard.com/market/story-456803-storydet-Gujarat_drops_4_000_Mw_coal_power_project.htm#.WRys-esrJhF>)* that 4,000 Megawa[t](<http://smartinvestor.business-standard.com/market/story-456803-storydet-Gujarat_drops_4_000_Mw_coal_power_project.htm#.WR_-hFPyuRs>) ultra-mega power project (UMPP) was rejected because “Gujarat had proposed the UMPP last year but we now feel we do not need more \[...\] We already have more than sufficient generation capacity." The region already has one such plant existence.

![India One Solar Thermal Power Plant. Image Credit: Bkwcreator, Wikimedia](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/India_One_Solar_Thermal_Power_Plant_-_India_-_Brahma_Kumaris_14.jpg>)
*India One Solar Thermal Power Plant. Image Credit: Bkwcreator/Wikimedia*

Sapariya also said in the interview that, “Our focus is now on renewable energy. The government will encourage solar power.”

[India agreed](<http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/what-signing-the-paris-climate-change-treaty-means-for-india/story-RsDH1IAohQNEqRxb426YbM.html>) at the Paris climate change conference in 2005 to derive a much higher percentage of its power from green sources by 2030. This transition could have a global impact, as [the Hindustan Times reported in 2016](<http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/what-signing-the-paris-climate-change-treaty-means-for-india/story-RsDH1IAohQNEqRxb426YbM.html>) that India was the fourth biggest polluter worldwide.

India agreed to extract [40 percent of its energy](<http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/what-signing-the-paris-climate-change-treaty-means-for-india/story-RsDH1IAohQNEqRxb426YbM.html>) from non-fossil fuels, and planned to do this by producing one terawatt of energy through solar power — this is four times the worldwide total currently produced. In addition, the country aims to become a nation that [only uses electric cars by 2030](<https://futurism.com/every-single-car-sold-in-india-will-be-electric-by-2030>).

The Indian government has been extremely successful in pursuing these aims. Recently, the price of solar-produced energy [dropped below the price](<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/may/10/indian-solar-power-prices-hit-record-low-undercutting-fossil-fuels>) of energy produced by fossil fuels, the [Kumuthis power plant](<https://futurism.com/category/climate-change-energy>) has shown that it can produce as much energy as most coal and nuclear plants, and the country is exceeding its predictions by [three-and-a-half years](<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/21/india-renewable-energy-paris-climate-summit-target>) — on track to produce 60 percent of energy through green sources by 2027.