India wants to triple coal production to meet its energy needs
One of the world's leading coal producers and users, India, aims to triple coal production from underground mines in a bid to meet energy demand with a more "green" production method than open-pit mining.
Earlier this month, India's Ministry of Coal said it wanted to produce 100 million tonnes of coal from underground mines by 2030, under a plan to stop coal imports by 2025-2026 .
Coal production from underground mines will be further increased by 2030 through the use of mass production technologies, Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi said at the launch of a new round of auctions for 39 coal mining concessions.
“ Coal continues to play a critical role in India's economic growth and development ,” said Amrit Lal Meena, a senior official at India's Ministry of Coal, in an FT statement.
According to Meena, underground mining – which India has not focused on in recent years due to higher costs and risks – does not lead to substantial land degradation and “disturbance to the land is minimal”.
As the COP28 climate summit, starting this week in Dubai, is expected to discuss the future of coal and other fossil fuels, India continues to turn to coal to meet its growing demand for electricity and industrial power. Coal still generates about 70% of India's electricity. So there is a future for coal, at least in India, which must provide large quantities of energy to meet its economic and income growth.
India's coal production increased by 18.59% to 78.65 million tonnes in October compared to the same month last year, according to data provided by India's Coal Ministry earlier this month. Between April and October, the first seven months of India's fiscal year 2023/2024, India's coal production increased 13.05% from a year earlier to 507 million tonnes, the data showed.
“The Ministry of Coal remains determined in its commitment to ensuring continuous production and distribution of coal, thereby ensuring a reliable energy supply that supports the nation's continued development,” he said in early November.
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This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/lindia-vuole-triplicare-la-produzione-di-carbone-per-soddisfare-i-fabbisogni-energetici/ on Mon, 27 Nov 2023 17:31:47 +0000.