Energy experts fear India's turn to 'dirty coal' commercially unviable
It is counter-intuitive that govt is looking to auction new mines, re-open old mines and old thermal power plants, which will not only create stranded assets but exacerbate climate change
New Delhi: Amidst the coal crisis where the Centre has invoked an emergency law to operate idle coal import-based utilities, energy transition experts believe the electricity generation for 1.35 billion people based on expensive imported coal for blending is commercially unviable - both high and inflationary.
They say combined with the global pandemic and the Ukraine-Russia war, which has increased coal prices internationally, it should be a death knell for coal. The time to ramp up wind and solar is now so that India is prepared to deal with a warming world.
Heatwaves are sweeping across India, with March recording the hottest in 122 years, resulting in high energy demand touching 207GW in April-end, the worst crisis in over six years. Demand is far exceeding supply resulting in power outages by state Discoms.
With imported coal prices at an all-time high, Discoms are wary of buying expensive power.
The experts told IANS on Sunday that it is counter-intuitive that the government is actually looking to auction new mines, re-open old mines and old thermal power plants, which will not only create stranded assets, but exacerbate climate change.
Rather it should be looking at better energy planning, and diversifying the energy mix keeping in mind emissions, global disruptions and the inflationary nature of fossil fuels.
Power Ministry officials say the installed capacity of electric grid is close to 340GW. Seventy per cent of this is coal powered. There isn't enough supply is what is being said. The reality is there isn't adequate planning due to which coal transport is delayed and power generators can't transmit power in time.
No more coal mines are needed in reality although Union Coal and Mines Minister Pralhad Joshi last week proposed to sell 20 abandoned mines with extractable reserves at 380 million tonne (MT), with an intention to extract 30-40 million tonne.
