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What is the news?
NITI Aayog has released a report on India’s Coal Sector.
International Energy Agency (IEA)’s annual coal 2021 report findings are also listed in the article.
What are the key findings of the NITI Aayog’s report?
– Coal will remain India’s mainstay energy source, and the country will shape global demand this decade. The demand for coal will be led by usage from the electricity sector.
– Coal-based thermal power generation will grow in absolute terms for the next decade. However, its share in the total power generation mix of the country will decline to a 50-55% (from current 72%) in the next 10 years. This would be due to increasing share of renewable energy.
| Note: Metallurgical coal or coking coal is a grade of coal that can be used to produce good-quality coke. Coke is an essential fuel and reactant in the blast furnace process for primary steelmaking. |
– India is unlikely to achieve its target of 100 GW of solar and 60 GW of wind capacity by 2022. Due to current “surplus capacity” in the system, and their distressed financial situation, the distribution utilities are reluctant to sign fresh power purchase agreements.
– Govt should also be very cautious of adding new coal capacity beyond 2030 as it risks locking in resources.
– India must enhance investments in the deployment of clean coal technologies throughout the coal value chain. Government power utilities must show the way by investing in the deployment of advanced clean coal technologies.
What are the findings of the IEA’s coal report?
– The iron and steel sector will continue to use coal, as there are not many technologies to replace it immediately.
– India’s push to domestic coal mining through both Coal India and auction of coal blocks to private companies will increase as it plateaus in other parts of the world, including China.
– India is also set to overtake China as the world’s largest metallurgical coal importer.
Source: This post is based on the article ‘Coal demand to peak in India by 2030, will back up renewables: NITI report’ published in Business Standard on 21st Dec 2021.
