Analyst's Diary: Betting against coal

The mercury is climbing, and so is the nation's need for power. In the past two years, India has witnessed two sweltering summers, breaking records held for over a century. A direct consequence of this barrage of heatwaves has been an unprecedented growth in the nation's power demand. The government, too, is buckling up and plans to double the nation's power generation capacity to 870 GW by 2030. But merely generating more power would be putting a band-aid on a gaping wound. What we need is another green revolution, this time in the energy sector. From the looks of it, we are heading towards that. Of the 870 GW mentioned above, nearly 500 GW may come from renewable sources, says the Indian government. While these goals are lofty and a lot is still uncertain, investors can count on one thing: Tata Power, India's largest vertically integrated power company, stands to gain from a greener India. But does that make it a perfect investment to ride this green wave? Let's explore. What works in Tata Power's favour Large scale: Tata Power is a giant when it comes to renewable energy. It generates around 5.9 GW of renewable energy annually, which is around 40 per cent of its total capacity. Also, the management plans to add 5.5 GW to its renewable capacity in the near future. This large stature has already helped T