India Aims To Draw 40% Of Power From Non-Fossil Fuels By 2030, But Still Relies Heavily On Coal

In the last decade, India's coal consumption has nearly doubled. The country continues to import massive quantities of coal and is planning to open several mines in the next few years.

Though an average Indian consumes far less power than a Brit or an American, India is making rapid strides to shift to cleaner energy with an ambitious target to draw 40 per cent of its installed electric power from non-fossil fuels by 2030.

For example, the Delhi metro system now runs on more than 60 per cent solar power for its daily power needs.

With a population of more than 1.3 billion, India's energy needs are set to rise more than any other nation in the next twenty years, according to the International Energy Agency.

However, the recent coal crisis in the country, and its implications on power supply, have raised some serious concerns around India's coal dependency.

India's coal dependency

There is increasing pressure on India to decrease its coal dependency.

India is also responsible for 40 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels.

A study found that close to 40 per cent of districts in India have some form of coal dependency as they are either home to coal workers or pensioners, collect funds under the District Mineral Foundation (DMF), or are benefitting from coal mining companies spending billions of rupees under the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes.

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The study was published by Sandeep Pai, a researcher, as part of his doctoral dissertation at the University of British Columbia.

His study was based on data collected from coal-mining company Coal India Limited (CIL), power utility company NTPC, Coal Controller¡¯s Organisation, and India¡¯s Ministry of Coal, among others.

Can India meet its climate agreement targets?

Coal dependency is also seen as a hindrance to achieving India's ambitious targets under the Paris Climate Agreement.

Tackling climate change is impossible without reducing dependence on fossil fuels, especially coal. India wants to increase its installed renewable energy capacity from 78 GW to 175 GW (1 GW = 1,000 MW) by March 2022. Of that 175 GW, 100 GW is supposed to be solar power.

The problem, however, is that coal is cheap, and developing economies, such as India, rely heavily on it for energy.

Coal is the largest source of electricity in the world. Coal-fired plants generate 72 per cent of India¡¯s electricity.

According to BP Energy Outlook 2019, coal¡¯s share in India¡¯s primary energy consumption will decline from 56 per cent in 2017 to 48 per cent in 2040. But that is still nearly half of the total energy mix and way ahead of any other source of energy.

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So, while renewable energy capacity is dramatically increasing, coal still provides nearly 70 per cent of the country¡¯s electricity.

Still, India is on track to retire coal-based plants, and replace them with renewable energy capacity.

The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has identified 34 coal-based power stations with a combined capacity of 5.14GW that can be retired, according to its latest assessment.

A total of 164 coal-based units with a combined capacity of 14.12GW have been made redundant in the last 18 years, Union Minister for Power told the parliament in September 2020.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently said that India is well on track to achieving its climate goals well before the target date as it switches over to energy-efficient mediums and uses waste to generate energy.

While the target of mixing 20 per cent ethanol has been advanced to 2025, 5,000 compressed biogas plants will be set up to turn municipal and agriculture waste into energy, he said.

The share of non-fossil sources in India's installed capacity of electricity has grown to 38 per cent and the nation adopted Bharat-VI emission norms in April last year to cut vehicular pollution.

India, he said, is working to increase the share of natural gas, which is environment friendly and less polluting, in the energy basket from the current 6 per cent to 15 per cent by 2030.

"India is well on track to achieve its Paris agreement targets well before the target date of 2030," he said.

India has maintained that it is not a polluter and cause of climate change and has voluntarily committed to reducing greenhouse gas emission intensity of its GDP by 33-35 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.