Page 3 - Coal Sector

India doubled new coal power capacity in 2023: Global Energy Monitor

The survey also revealed a substantial increase in coal power proposals in India, with both public and private sectors proposing 11.4 GW of new capacity

CIL's FY24 production jumps 10% as stock gets a fillip ahead of summer

The jump in coal production comes at a time when the country is preparing for a record high power demand expected due to extreme heat this summer

Coal sector grows 11.6% in February, highest growth in core sectors

The coal sector has registered an 11.6 per cent growth, the highest among all eight core industries of the economy, in February, an official statement said on Monday. The index of coal industry has reached 212.1 points during February as compared to 190.1 points during the same month last year, the coal ministry said. "The coal sector has exhibited highest growth of 11.6 per cent (provisional) among the eight core industries for the month of February 2024 as per the Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI) (Base Year 2011-12) released by Ministry of Commerce & Industries," it said. On a cumulative basis, the index of coal industry increased by 12.1 per cent during April to February 2023-24 over the corresponding period of the previous year. ICI measures the combined and individual production performance of eight core industries namely, cement, coal, crude oil, electricity, fertilizers, natural gas, refinery products, and steel. The Combined Index of Eight Core Industries experienced a

Coal gasification is reliable, will strengthen India's energy security

Serious efforts are needed make this energy supply alternative a success

Goal is to build capacity, reduce imports of coal, machinery: Coal secy

India is working on achieving its goal to reduce spending on importing machinery and equipment for coal mining and simultaneously building up its own capacity to step up exports to other countries, Amrit Lal Meena, Union Secretary, Ministry of Coal said here on Saturday. Coal India Limited (CIL) is still dependent on import of high capacity mining machines, rope shovels, 190T Dumpers and front-end loaders. The average annual import of these high capacity mining machines of Coal India Limited (CIL) is approximately Rs 750 crores for which customs duty of about Rs 250 crore has to be paid, he said. CIL has been placing trial orders to encourage manufacturers to develop these equipment in India and results have been encouraging, Meena said while addressing a stakeholders meet on 'Make in India' initiatives for mining machineries here. CIL plans to phase down imports of these equipment gradually over the next few years and make the vision of Atma Nirbhar Bharat a reality, the secretary

Coal sector contributes Rs 70,000 cr every yr to Centre, states: Govt

The coal sector contributes over Rs 70,000 crore every year to the Centre and states, through GST, royalties and other levies, the government said on Monday. These funds play a significant role in the socio-economic development and infrastructure enhancement in those coal-bearing areas, the coal ministry said in a statement. "The coal sector contributes over Rs 70,000 crore annually to the Centre and state governments through royalties, GST, and other levies," the statement said. "Coal production generates substantial revenue for both Centre and state governments, with royalty collections reaching Rs 23,184.86 crore in the fiscal year 2022-23," the statement said. Coal is the single-largest contributor to railway freight, with an average share of nearly 49 per cent of the total freight income amounting to Rs 82,275 crore in 2022-23 alone. This revenue contribution has surpassed 33 per cent of total railway earnings.

Coal sector up 10.9% among core industries in Nov on domestic output boost

The data indicates that the combined index of eight core industries showed an increase of 7.8 per cent (provisional) in November 2023, the government said

India's coal production to cross 1 bn tonnes in FY24: Pralhad Joshi

Coal and Mines Minister Pralhad Joshi on Wednesday expressed confidence that the country's coal production will cross one billion tonnes in the ongoing financial year. The country's production target of the fossil fuel for 2023-24 is 1,012.14 MT. Speaking during the launch of the ninth round of commercial coal mine auction, the minister said, "This year we are going to cross one billion tonnes production." The estimated demand of coal in the current fiscal is 1,196.60 million tonne (MT). The demand of electricity by 2030 is going to double and to cater to the need the country needs coal, the minister said. With the completion of the ninth round of auction, the sale of 100 coal blocks would be completed. A total of 31 coal mines are being offered in the ninth round of commercial coal mine auctions. The mines being auctioned are spread across coal, lignite-bearing states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Telangana.

Making history, COP28 nations agree to 'transition away' from fossil fuels

Coal singled out for phasedown; India calls for climate equity and justice

Coal sector saw scams in past, transparent system now in place: Joshi

There were massive scams in the country's coal sector in the past but now such a robust and transparent system has been established that even the coal minister cannot allocate one kg of coal to anyone in a discretionary manner, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said Wednesday. Replying to a question related to his ministry in the Lok Sabha, the Union coal minister said the country is in the process of producing one billion tonnes of coal, fulfilling Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream of 'Atmanirbhar Bharat'. "Now we have a very robust and transparent system. I can't even give a single kilogram of coal in a discretionary manner. I can't give a coal block in a discretionary manner. We all know how coal blocks were allocated in the past. There were massive scams," Joshi said. H said commercial coal mining has started in the country and it will bring efficiency and competition in coal production, attract investment and help create more jobs in the sector.

Govt asks coal block owners to take necessary steps to operationalise mines

The government on Tuesday asked coal block owners to take necessary steps to operationalise mines that are at an advanced stage of commissioning. In FY24, India might produce 145 Million Tonnes (MT) of coal from commercial and captive blocks, that would help bring down the country's import of fossil fuel. M Nagaraju, Additional Secretary and Nominated Authority, Ministry of Coal, chaired a review meeting of producing and expected to produce captive and commercial coal mines during 2023-24. During the meeting, Nagaraju asked the companies allotted coal blocks to take necessary steps to achieve production target of the current fiscal. "The total coal production from captive/commercial coal mines during April 1, 2023 to November 20, 2023 was around 80 MT, indicating a year-on-year growth of 23 per cent from the same period of FY 2022-23," the coal ministry said in a statement.

India needs to add 80 GW coal power by 2030 to meet demand: Union minister

India needs to add thermal coal-based power generation capacity of 80 GW against the 27 GW currently under construction as the peak power demand in the country would spike to 335 GW by 2030 from 241 GW at present, Union Power Minister R K Singh said on Tuesday. Singh presided over a review meeting on thermal power capacity addition in the country where independent power producers and state-owned generators NTPC, SJVN, NHPC, DVC, THDCIL, and NLCIL participated virtually and in physical mode on Tuesday. Besides energy secretaries of 13 major states were also invited for deliberations. Addressing the review meeting, Singh said India's peak power demand would touch 335 GW in 2029-30 from the present level of 241 GW. Peak power demand had touched all-time high of 241 GW in September, reflecting rise in electricity consumption in the country with expansion of economic activities as well as per capita usage. The minister said India needs 80 GW of coal-based thermal power generation capac

Clean energy overtakes fossil fuels in global job market: IEA report

Clean energy sectors added 4.7 million jobs globally, while fossil fuel jobs recovered more slowly after layoffs in 2020

Notable growth in coal sector due to rise in output of fossil fuel: Govt

The Centre on Thursday said the significant growth in the coal sector is due to a rise in production of the fossil fuel during September. The production of coal in September 2023 increased to 67.27 million tonne (MT), against 58.04 MT in the year-ago period. As per the index of eight core industries for September 2023 released by Ministry of Commerce & Industries, the index of coal sector showed a year-on-year growth of 16.1 per cent to 148.1 points. This is the highest growth in last 14 months except for August 2023, the coal ministry said in a statement. The latest data indicates that the combined index of eight core industries has shown a noteworthy increase of 8.1 per cent (provisional) in September 2023, compared to the same period in the previous year. The Centre has played a crucial role in driving this growth through various strategic initiatives like amendment of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 2021, allowing captive mines to sell coal or lignite

86 power plants have 25% less coal stocks than normative levels: CEA report

As many as 86 thermal power plants in the country, including six imported dry fuel-based, had critical coal stock levels as of October 18, according to a Central Electricity Authority (CEA) report. The power plants are labelled as having a critical coal stock situation, where the dry fuel is less than 25 per cent of the normative level. According to the daily coal report of the CEA for October 18, 2023, as many as 86 thermal power plants were having critical coal stock situations out of the monitored 181 in the country. There were six imported coal-based plants out of these 86 plants. CEA monitors 181 coal-based thermal power plants in the country with a total installed generation capacity of 206 GW. As per the report, 148 non-pithead domestic coal-based power plants with a total capacity of about 149 GW had 29 per cent less dry fuel stocks than the normative (or ideal) levels. These 148 plants had about 12.77 million tonnes of coal against the normative level of 43.53 million to

Domestic coal companies supply 500 million tonnes coal in H1 FY24

The ministry said as the rate of production and dispatch is normally higher than the first half of the year, the dispatch of coal would exceed the 1 billion tonne mark during this fiscal year

Coal transition won't lead to job losses if system aptly executed: ISA DG

India won't experience any job losses in coal-dependent regions as it transitions towards renewable energy, provided the country designs its systems correctly, says Ajay Mathur, Director-General of the International Solar Alliance (ISA). In an interview with PTI, Mathur also said energy security remains a driving force, especially in view of the Russia-Ukraine war impacting traditional energy sources. While India doesn't intend to fully eliminate coal, the sole dependable energy source in the nation, there is a target to diminish coal's contribution from the existing 50 per cent in the energy mix to around 30 per cent and have 500 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity by 2030. Addressing concerns about loss of jobs as India moves away from coal, Mathur, who has also been a member of the Indian Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change, said the renewable sector holds promise for employment generation, particularly at the user level. "We need far more trained electricians who

Coal ministry developing logistics policy, national coal evacuation plan

The coal ministry is developing a logistics policy for the sector and a national coal evacuation plan with a view to reducing logistics costs, an official statement said on Saturday. An inter-ministerial meeting on logistics was held to review the progress of implementation of the national logistics policy, the statement said adding that it was convened by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). During the meeting measures taken by different ministries to improve logistics efficiency in the country were also showcased, the commerce and industry ministry said. "A draft coal logistic policy and national coal evacuation plan has been developed by the ministry of coal. In addition, standardization of physical assets (heavy earth moving machines for coal handling) and setting up benchmarks for quality management, is under progress," the statement said. Speaking at the meeting DPIIT Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh talked about the critical role played by ports i

Coal scam: Delhi court convicts former MP Vijay Darda, ex-coal secy Gupta

A Delhi court on Thursday convicted seven accused, including former Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Darda and ex-coal secretary H C Gupta in a case related to irregularities in the allocation of a coal block in Chhattisgarh. In the 13th conviction in the coal scam, the scandal which rocked the erstwhile Manmohan Singh government, Special Judge Sanjay Bansal also convicted Darda's son Devender Darda, two senior public servants K S Kropha and K C Samria, M/s JLD Yavatmal Energy Pvt Ltd and its Director Manoj Kumar Jayaswal. The court held the accused guilty of criminal conspiracy (punishable under Section 120-B of IPC) and cheating (punishable under section 420 of IPC), and under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The judge will hear argument on quantum of punishment on July 18. The court accepted the submissions made by senior Public Prosecutor A P Singh that the CBI was able to prove its case beyond all reasonable doubts. It had on November 20, 2014 refused to accept the

National Electricity Plan: Coal to fall behind renewables by 2032

Power generation capacity likely to touch 900 Gw