Why in News?

•  India embarking on an ambitious journey to achieve renewable energy capacity of 175 gigawatt (GW) by 2022
• Creating questions on relevance of coal in the present context

Why is it important

• reliable supply of energy becoming critical to provide round-the-clock electricity across the country
• To achieve 100% electrification by December 2018

Today's status of coal

• the share of coal in total capacity is about 62% but the share in generation is about 80%
• coal-fired power contributes substantially more to output than to overall costs, helping to keep electricity tariffs affordable for consumers in a period when India is adding more costly sources of power.
• India’s total coal reserve is estimated at a little more than 300 billion tonnes.
• If 50% of that is extractable, a 1-billion-tonne annual consumption will translate into availability for 150 years.
•  the plant load factor (PLF) for India’s thermal power capacity has dropped to 52% from 79% in 2007-8 but the country’s thermal plants are equipped to operate at about 85 to 90% PLF.

Impact of change in energy mix

• growth in renewable does not mean the generation from coal will come down
• coal will coexist, as the availability of coal is abundant in India
• it can provide affordable power to propel India’s growth and light every household.
• But, most additional capacity in the country will come from renewable sources.
• coal would continue to dominate in the absence of cost-effective storage of renewable energy that has been generated.

Variable cost

• PLF is scaled up from 55% to 85%, one can see a 50% increase in output from the same capacity.
• The only cost involved here is the variable cost of coal. This variable cost is far lower than that for solar power.

Climate change regime and India's coal use

• India’s share in pollution is far less than its share of the global population.
• Using more coal to meet the energy demand from the same thermal capacity for the next 20 years will not put India at disadvantage given its commitment to meet the Climate Change COP 21 obligations.
• India’s renewable capacity should be 40% of the total capacity by 2030.
• Including hydro-based power, that capacity is currently at 28%.
• Once India implements the 175 GW renewable programme, the 40% criteria will be achieved.
• India is well within the COP 21 obligation till it uses 1,500 million tonnes of coal a year as compared with 800 million tonnes now to generate energy.
• Thus India could continue with a coal-based growth plan, which is cost effective.

       Comparison with China

• The Chinese share in global emissions is now close to 30%, whereas its share in global population is just about 17%. India’ share in global population is 16%, while its share in emissions is only 6%-7%

Likely future

• Coal retains a central position in the mix, increasing its overall share in primary energy from 44% in 2013 to 49% in 2040.