A Short Note on the Current Scenario of Coal

Coal is a fossil fuel with high carbon content. It has been mined in India since the prehistoric period. About 55% of all energy use comes from coal. It generates electricity and heat through combustion with supplied air at high temperatures to form soot and ash, silicates, sulphur, and metals. 

Coal fuels about 40% of India’s commercial primary energy consumption. Commercial consumption has risen by nearly 700% in recent years, which translates into the average commercial consumption per person being 350 kg of oil equivalent (kg). Although this number seems small compared to many other countries where commercial energy use is much higher, it is important to note that things are changing rapidly. Usage will grow with the growing population and economic development.

Types of Coal in India: Classification of Coal

Coal is created when organic matter gets buried under layers of sediment over hundreds of years. Unlike oil, coal has low hydrogen content with higher levels of carbon. Thus, when it burns, it produces high heat. However, steam heating requires a lot of energy to produce the heat needed, which costs more than oil.

Based on its carbon yields, the types of coal are presented below:

• Anthracite is a type of coal with more than 90% carbon content and a higher calorific value. It is the highest quality coal. India’s reserves of anthracite are in Jammu & Kashmir, West Bengal, and Odisha.
• Bituminous has a heating value of 7600 to 11000 kJ/ Kg and over 60% carbon content. It is considered the second-highest rank of coal.
• Lignite is found in the Raniganj Basin of West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu. It is a type of coal that ranks much lower and has just 35–50% carbon content. 
• Peat, also known as the ‘poor man’s coal’, has less than 40% carbon content.

Coal Mining in India 

• India imports about 213 million tons of coal. Therefore, coal companies in India have begun acquiring coal mines overseas to ensure a steady quality and quantity of supply. 
• The near-total reliance on foreign coal instead of sourcing from domestic sources has had several repercussions on the Indian energy crisis. Among them are problems with environmental clearances. 
• Because of the limited so-called ‘Go No Go’ areas, India is one of the most seismically active areas globally, leading to delays in forest and environmental clearances. Delays such as these often increase costs for business owners.
• Other issues include land acquisition problems, making it increasingly difficult for Indian businesses to mine domestically. 
• In addition, India mostly uses conventional mining techniques. These methods cannot put an effective usage cap on their power stations as they do not maximise the available extraction methods through advanced technology or efficiency programs.

Need for Coal and Renewable Energy to Meet India’s Growing Power

It is tough to make sense of India’s power industry structure, as it is in such an incredibly complicated state. While India needs coal and renewable forms of energy to meet its ongoing growing capacity for power generation, the DisComs (state-level power distribution companies) pose a significant challenge to the complementary growth of these two different types of energy production.

Consumers who pay higher prices on their electric bills monthly to subsidise other customers are only likely to continue this trend. They will be more likely to invest in renewable energy technology that allows them to save money and shift away from traditional means altogether.

This would leave the DisComs without good customers, worsening the situation. Therefore, it is important to address all kinds of issues involving this first step before declaring renewable forms like solar or wind as unreliable sources.

Most Recent Coal Crisis in India

The news of coal shortage in India became public in the first week of October 2021. The condition was so bad that the states and union territories declared that they could only produce electricity from thermal plants for 2-3 more days. Many states like Delhi, Rajasthan, and Punjab faced outages of power for numerous hours in a day. The worsening condition led to politicians playing the blame game. The following are some reasons for the current coal crisis in India:

Rising Electricity Demand

Even though there was a decline in electricity demand in 2020, this demand raised by 13.2 per cent by the first eight months of 2021; moreover, the coal supplied by Coal India Limited was 243 million tonnes. It is 24 % higher than the supply in 2020. Also, the peak demand for electric supply indicated the revival of the Indian economy. Hence, the electricity generation through thermal plants increased by 7.4% with the increased demand.

International Factors

India is the third-largest coal importer country. However, from August to September 2021, the import of coal decreased by 44%. This increased the burden of 17 million tonnes of coal on the domestic producers. Moreover, the unseasonal rainfall in Indonesia and the rising demand for coal in China led to an increase in the price of coal. Most importantly, India imports 43% of its coal supply from Indonesia.

Equation Went Wrong

Although the crisis prompted the government to step in, the equation was still unbalanced. According to the reports, the delay in Payment to Coal in India by the generation companies led to slower delivery of coal by the miners. In August 2021, the companies owned Rs. 313 crores.

Government Initiatives for Coal

The Indian government has taken some initiatives for the coal crisis:

• One of the Indian government’s initiatives for the coal crisis is a mobile app that will help track coal quality.
• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved a new coal linkage policy better than previous policies to provide the necessary fuel supply to power plants and ensure an organised process. 
• The Ministry of Coal is taking measures to provide transparency regarding the availability of coal. They have developed an online system where investors can submit their applications for permissions/clearances and approvals granted by the ministry and get speedy replies.
• Furthermore, they are tracking coal allocations from CIL to States, States to SNA, and SNA to such consumers more transparently through another system. 
• Finally, commercial coal mining for Indian and foreign companies in the private sector has opened up.

Conclusion

To conclude, India needs to look for ‘clean coal’ practices. Coking coal was considered inefficient by the local government due to coal pollution and the release of greenhouse gases into the environment. India will not be using this process in the future because we need cleaner energy sources. With international conventions—such as the Paris Agreement—pushing towards more sustainable products, we must prioritise clean coal in India’s Vision 2030 plan.

Moreover, private companies are bringing about positive changes in how coal mining operations are conducted. This is excellent news for us in the long run. We need to be looking at ways of taking this further, i.e. implementing more efficient and cleaner energy sources.