New Delhi: In India, energy transition away from coal is not happening during the foreseeable future and demand for coal is expected to see an increase of 63 percent by 2030, said Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi in the Rajya Sabha on Monday. In a written response to a question raised in the Lower House of Parliament, Joshi said, "Although there will be push for renewable/non-fossil based energy, but share of coal in the energy basket is going to remain significant in years ahead."
"Coal demand in the country is yet to peak. The draft Economic Survey 2021-22 projects coal demand in the range of 1.3-1.5 billion tonnes by 2030, an increase of 63 percent from the current demand. Thus, as of now there is no scenario of energy transition away from coal affecting any stakeholders involved in coal mining," the minister told the House.
The government has time and again reiterated that coal will continue to remain relevant for India in the time to come as the country's power demand is slated to witness a sharp growth. In India, coal accounts for around 80 percent of power generation. Currently, India's per capita energy consumption is one-third of the world average and it is slated to rise further in the years to come as the economy grows. Even though the government has said that it will not add new coal-fired power generation capacities to India's energy mix, the plan is to operate the existing thermal power plants at a higher Plant Load Factor (PLF) to meet the increased power demand, while simultaneously adding renewable energy (RE) generation capacities.
Since coal is going to contribute majorly to power generation over the next decade, the government has opened the coal mining sector to private players for commercial mining.
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