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June 5, 2025

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India’s energy transition accelerates as coal declines and renewables surge

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In May, India witnessed its most significant drop in coal-fired electricity production in half a decade. 

This decline coincided with the first decrease in total power demand since August and a record surge in renewable energy output, according to a Reuters analysis, which quoted official data.

Federal power grid regulator, Grid India’s data indicates a substantial drop in natural gas-fired power generation, the largest in almost three years. 

This decline is attributed to increased electricity production from cleaner sources such as hydro and nuclear power.

India, a major player in the global energy market as the second-largest coal importer and fourth-largest LNG purchaser, is experiencing a decrease in fossil fuel demand for electricity production. 

This reduction coincides with a period of significant price volatility and pressure on benchmark fossil fuel prices.

Source: Reuters

Decline in fossil fuel demand

Indian coal trader I-Energy said in a note:

Demand from the power sector – typically strong during peak season – remained limited.

Additionally, economic headwinds have weighed on non-power industries.

Asian spot LNG prices have decreased by over 15% this year. 

Simultaneously, thermal coal benchmark prices have plummeted to their lowest levels in over four years.

These declines are attributed to reduced demand from China and India, the largest global coal importers.

Grid India’s data analysis reveals a significant 9.5% year-over-year drop in India’s coal-generated power during May, totaling 113.3 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh). 

This decline in coal-generated power represents the most substantial annual decrease since June 2020’s nationwide COVID-19 lockdown.

India sees a historic drop in coal power generation in May as renewable energy reaches record highsThe world’s third-largest greenhouse gas emitter may see a significant reduction in emissions due to a prolonged decrease in fossil fuel demand for power generation. 

This shift comes after the country increased its coal dependence to fuel post-pandemic economic recovery.

To justify its extensive use of coal, India has consistently emphasised its lower emissions per person when compared to more affluent countries.

Cutting reliance

Driven by ample coal reserves and diminished electricity demand growth, Chinese and Indian utilities have further decreased their reliance on coal and LNG imports this year.

Due to surging temperatures and elevated power demand, India had allowed the operation of gas-fired power plants throughout 2024.

Moody’s ICRA vice president, Prashant Vashisth, stated that due to reduced power demand and elevated gas-fired power costs rendering it less competitive against alternatives like solar, utilities are expected to decrease their purchase volumes this year.

May saw a 5.3% year-on-year decrease in total electricity generation, reaching 160.4 billion kWh. 

Peak demand also declined by approximately 8% compared to the previous year, registering at 231 GW.

Government officials attributed this reduction primarily to milder temperatures.

In May 2024, a heatwave drove peak electricity demand to 250 GW, reflecting the highest electricity requirement during that period.

Renewable energy surge

Also, May saw renewable energy production reach an unprecedented 24.7 billion kWh, marking a 17.2% year-over-year increase.

This growth elevated renewables’ contribution to the total power supply to 15.4%, the highest percentage recorded since 2018.

Source: Reuters

India’s electricity generation saw coal’s contribution decrease to 70.7% this May, Grid India reports. T

his is a drop from 74.0% the previous year and marks the smallest proportion of coal-generated power since June 2022.

Hydropower production saw a significant increase, rising 8.3% to 14.5 billion kWh.

This surge elevated hydropower’s contribution to total power generation to 9.0%, up from 7.9% in May 2024, as indicated by the data.

In May, natural gas-fired power generation experienced a significant drop, plummeting 46.5% compared to the previous year. 

This resulted in an output of only 2.78 billion kWh, representing the largest annual decrease since October 2022.

The post India’s energy transition accelerates as coal declines and renewables surge appeared first on Invezz

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In World news

Victoria Gold-Silver Exploration Update

3 Mins Read

Infinity Lithium Corporation Limited (‘Infinity’, or ‘the Company’) is pleased to announce that it has engaged a drilling contractor and has committed to testing the exciting CST (Comstock) gold-silver prospect (the CST Prospect) within the Cobungra Project (EL 7073) in July. Cobungra is located within the Lachlan Fold Belt in NE Victoria and was recently acquired by Infinity from Highland Resources Limited (ASX announcement 31 March 2025) as part of the Company’s transition to a focus on precious metals in Australia.

KEY POINTS

  • Drilling contractor contracted, drilling set to commence early July.
  • Exploration will test high priority CST Prospect (gold-silver) at Cobungra.
  • Undrilled geophysical target with coincident high-grade gold rock chip samples.
  • Gold focus in Australia the immediate priority to enhance company value going forward.

Infinity has moved quickly to commit to drill testing its recently acquired gold-silver-copper Projects and expand its holding of high-grade gold exploration ground within the Victorian portion of the rich Lachlan Fold Belt (Figure 1).

CST Prospect, Cobungra Project

The CST Prospect is located along strike (approx. 2,000m) from the previously drilled (5 holes) Forsyth Prospect also located within EL7073 which returned high-grade gold and silver intercepts including 5.35m @ 4.7g/t gold (Au), 334 g/t silver (ag) from 143m (ASX release dated 31 March 2025). Gold and silver mineralisation at both the Forsyth and CST Prospects is interpreted to be related to the Ensay Shear which is a laterally continuous structure running NW-SE through the tenement. Along strike, approx. 5km to the SE, is the proximal to the +300,000 oz Au Cassilis gold deposit (319,500 oz Au deposit JORC 2012, ABA Resources https://www.abaresources.com.au/portfolio.php). The Company believes that the strike of the Ensay Shear is a prospective exploration horizon.

The CST Prospect (Comstock) is an obvious and exciting initial drilling priority as Infinity targets precious metals in Australia. The CST Prospect presents an excellent drill target based on some historic gold-silver workings with a programme of rock chip sampling and geophysical surveying (I.P) 2013-2014 identifying coincident anomalies. These will be drilled in a small, first-pass drill campaign (approximately 6 holes for 800m). The CST Prospect has never been drilled and this is a first pass drilling campaign designed to identify further priority targets and areas of geological interest.

There are at least seven quartz vein-type gold (silver) lodes distributed in the CST Prospect Mineral Occurrence, with traced length of 20m~80m and width of 0.1m~2.0m. These lodes are nearly parallel, strike NNE and dip to SEE at a dip angle of 65°~80° (Figure 2). These lodes are interpreted to be ‘tension gashes’ running oblique within the dominant NW-SE striking Ensay Shear.

Refer to ASX release 31 March 2025 “Infinity Acquires Gold Projects”. Infinity is not aware of any new information that materially affects the information included in this announcement

Click here for the full ASX Release

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

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In Business

Nationwide coordinated retail crime crackdown results in hundreds of arrests, authorities say

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A nationwide coordinated crackdown on retail crime — what authorities are calling the first of its kind — led to hundreds of arrests in 28 states last week.

The blitz, led by Illinois’ Cook County regional organized crime task force, involved more than 100 jurisdictions and over 30 retailers including Home Depot, Macy’s, Target, Ulta Beauty, Walgreens, Kroger and Meijer.

“When you give specific focus to a crime, it reverberates,” Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart told CNBC. “When they see it is being prosecuted and taken seriously, it deters conduct. They don’t want to get caught.”

Organized retail crime — a type of shoplifting where groups of thieves work together in targeted operations to turn stolen goods into cash — has grown in scale and scope in recent years. CNBC previously reported on the extensive law enforcement efforts to take down retail crime organizations.

While aggregate numbers for retail theft are difficult to quantify, retailers reported 93% more shoplifting incidents on average in 2023 compared with 2019, according to a survey conducted by the National Retail Federation. Those surveyed also reported a 90% increase in the associated dollar losses over that same time period.

Some critics point to a lack of enforcement and felony thresholds for allowing criminals to continue committing theft. It’s something Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke has been focused on since taking office in December.

On her first day in office, O’Neill Burke said prosecutors would pursue felony retail theft charges in accordance with state law, when the value of the goods exceeds $300 or when the suspect already has a felony shoplifting conviction.

Before her taking office, retail theft felonies were charged only if the value of the stolen goods was $1,000 or more or if the suspect had 10 or more prior convictions.

Since Dec. 1, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office has filed charges in 1,450 felony retail theft cases, the office said.

The goals of the coordinated operation, O’Neill Burke told CNBC, is “to have one day where we focus and concentrate on [retail theft] and we share intelligence about it — about what we learned about the network, so that gives us more tools on how to take this network down.”

It was the coordination between law enforcement and prosecuting attorneys that got a number of the involved retailers to participate in the blitz.

“Collaboration is key to making a meaningful impact,” Ulta Beauty Senior Vice President of Loss Prevention Dan Petrousek told CNBC. “That’s why we were proud to participate in the National ORC Blitz alongside dedicated law enforcement and prosecutorial partners.”

Ulta Beauty had teams participating across nine states in last week’s operation, providing law enforcement with information on incidents of retail crime.

“Organized retail crime remains one of the most significant challenges in our industry,” said Marty Maloney, Walgreens director of media relations. “In this most recent operation we worked closely with law enforcement partners across nearly 20 cities and at over 40 locations to help curb this trend.”

A representative for Home Depot told CNBC that while overall theft is down, investigated incidents of organized retail crime are still up double digits year over year.

Now that the operation has concluded, the group is pulling together each jurisdictions’ observations and sharing data to continue to help crack down on retail theft.

Other participating retailers reached for comment by CNBC, including Macy’s, T.J. Maxx and Target, said they’re committed to partnering with law enforcement and pushing for stronger laws to combat retail crime.

California Highway Patrol arrests retail crime suspect in Long Beach, CA.Courtesy: California Highway Patrol.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

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In Politics

Elon Musk posts ‘Kill Bill’ meme in latest push to nix Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’

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Less than a week after leaving his position as head of the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk is calling on Americans to urge their senators and representatives to ‘kill’ the ‘big, beautiful’ budget bill backed by President Donald Trump.

Musk has grown increasingly critical of Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill,’ claiming that if passed, it would increase the U.S. budget deficit by $5 billion.

On Wednesday afternoon, Musk posted an image of the 2003 Uma Thurman movie ‘Kill Bill,’ appearing to reference his call to nix the Trump-backed bill.

‘We need a new bill that doesn’t grow the deficit,’ Musk said on X. 

In another post, Musk urged: ‘Call your Senator, Call your Congressman, Bankrupting America is NOT ok! KILL the BILL.’ 

Musk said Tuesday afternoon that he ‘just can’t stand it anymore.’

‘This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination,’ he said. ‘Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.’

Musk previously criticized the bill during an interview with CBS, noting he was ‘disappointed’ in the spending bill because ‘it undermines’ all the work his DOGE team was doing.

The bill passed the House in late May, ahead of Memorial Day, largely along party lines. However, two Republicans did vote against the measure, citing insufficient spending cuts and a rising national debt. GOP Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has also signaled he likely will not vote in favor of the bill in its current form, citing a debt ceiling increase that is a red line for him. 

Trump has lashed out at Paul and others for opposing the bill, but so far he has taken a more measured approach to Musk’s criticism.

‘Look, the president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill,’ White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a Tuesday afternoon briefing when asked about Musk’s most recent criticism.

‘It doesn’t change the president’s opinion. This is one big, beautiful bill, and he’s sticking to it,’ she said. 

Fox News Digital’s Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

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