Page 13 - AsiaElec Week 41 2022

AsiaElec COAL AsiaElec

Opening new mines in India will

not solve power crisis

INDIA THE Indian government plans to develop 99 The move is aimed at alleviating power short-
new coal projects, producing 427mn tonnes ages when temperatures start to rise again early
per year (tpy), in order to tackle the current coal in the new year after the cooler monsoon season.
shortage, even though the country has even The state of Odisha will see three CIL sites
more capacity currently lying idle. given the thumbs up to increase capacity. Five
Global Energy Monitor said in a briefing that other projects that have been given the OK to
36% of capacity at India’s existing mines was expand are located in Chhattisgarh, Madhya
unused, worth 433mn tpy of output. This is more Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Two additional pro-
than the capacity New Delhi wants to build, sug- jects are located in Maharashtra in the west.
gesting that the country does not need to develop At present, the state-owned CIL accounts for
new coal mines. around 80% of domestic coal production.
“The signs warning against the massive The coal expansion clashes with the Indian
expansion of coal mining are easy to see, but the government’s longer-term goals of raising green
Indian government is not heeding them. New power generation.
mines can’t make the industry’s old problems go In June, the government said it would cut
away. The irony of this expansion is that open- generating output at a minimum of 81 coal-fired
ing new mines today could intensify the sec- power plants by 2025 in an effort to replace ther-
tor’s weaknesses and inefficiencies tomorrow, mal generation with cheaper renewables.
especially as competition from renewables and India expects the plan to reduce power gen-
conflicts over land use continue to emerge,” said eration by 58bn kWh from the 81 utility com-
Ryan Driskell Tate, project manager at Global panies to save 34.7mn tonnes of coal and cut
Coal Mine Tracker. carbon emissions by 60.2mn tonnes, the letter
In some major mining regions, like said.
Jharkhand and Odisha, the industry has over India is the world’s second-largest consumer,
100mn tonnes in unused capacity at active mine producer and importer of coal, and the fuel
sites, amounting to over 40% of unused mine accounts for nearly 75% of annual electricity
capacity in those states, the briefing said. generation.
The government’s new generation of coal The world’s third-largest greenhouse gas
mines would come at a great social and environ- (GHG) emitter is currently 37% short of its 2022
mental cost, and could create new levels of water green energy target of 175 GW.
stress in a country where water is a valuable India’s current power crisis could have been
resource in many rural areas. averted if its target to install 175 GW in renew-
It would displace at least 165 villages and able energy had been on track, think-tank Cli-
87,630 families, of which 41,508 families live in mate Risk Horizons said.
scheduled areas of India, predominantly tribal “The additional generation from solar and
communities. 37% of new coal will be located wind ... would have allowed power plants to
in high-risk water zones and 54% is planned for conserve their dwindling coal stocks for evening
extremely high-water risk zones. peak periods,” Climate Risk Horizons said.
Water shortages would be exacerbated by The power ministry’s plan to reduce coal-
the new coal projects, as demand would rise by fired generation when renewable sources are
168,041 kilolitres per day. available could also ease pressure on logistics.
n August, the government gave the green India’s power crisis has been made worse by a
light to coal mine expansion at 10 Coal India Ltd shortage of trains to move coal.™
(CIL) sites across the country.

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