Team Blitz India
NEW DELHI: The Centre plans to build a domestic thermal coal stock of 1.8-2.5 billion tonnes (bt) by 2030-32, following which it intends to hit the pause button on production for the next decade. This transition plan is despite India not signing any global agreement on the phasing down of coal production and its usage.
According to the projections of the Ministry of Coal, the demand for coal will be close to 1.5-1.8 bt by 2030. Officials said that a buffer stock of over the estimated 0.5-1 bt is being planned to take care of any sudden demand fluctuations.
The Ministry is also factoring if renewable energy (RE) sources are unable to meet the electricity demand.
“Even if RE touches the targeted 500 gigawatts (gw) by 2030, the base energy source would be required. It was earlier estimated that 1.5 bt of coal would be able to meet the projected electricity demand of 350 gw by the end of this decade. But since this year has bucked all demand projections, as a country we should build surplus capacity,” a senior official in the Coal Ministry said.
