By Vijay Jayaraj
This week, the UK scrambled to get its coal power plants ready as wind turbines froze in extreme cold. It’s no surprise that coal is one of the most reliable, affordable, and abundant sources of energy in the world.
In fact, coal remains the largest contributor to global electricity production. The leaders of Asian nations know this and are not inclined to risk their goals of economic freedom with an undue reliance on expensive and volatile “renewable” technology.
As a country that is about to become the most populous in the world, India faces a multitude of challenges and it does not want to add trouble to a sometimes fragile energy system. So strategists are very interested in increasing the country’s dependence on coal despite global calls to reduce emissions from fossil fuel combustion.
Coal’s important role in 20order The century of hunger eradication and poverty alleviation
Abundant and economical energy is needed to meet basic needs such as lighting, cooking and powering appliances that can improve the quality of life for millions of poor people and even prevent them from doing so. prevent premature death. Hospitals, schools, water supply systems and industrial facilities need reliable electricity if they are to play a role in alleviating poverty and deprivation.
As a fuel, coal is abundant and relatively cheap. Coal-fired power plants are a reliable and long-standing technology for generating electricity. Technologies such as wind and solar are inherently intermittent and relatively expensive. They rely on machines that have a relatively short lifespan and require several times more materials and space to generate the same amount of electricity. At best, this so-called green technology is suitable for limited applications but is certainly not suitable for basic load supplies for large populations.
In Asia, the need for sustainable economic growth far outweighs the illusory vision of a “carbon-free” utopia, making coal the obvious choice for at least a few decades.
Coal made India famous; Will continue to be a source of fuel
India’s gross domestic product has grown from $390 billion in 1990 to $2.6 trillion in 2020, representing a compound annual growth rate of 6.7%. This is only possible due to the rapid increase in the use of coal for electricity and industry. In 1971, only 50% of India’s electricity came from coal. By 2015, this percentage had increased to nearly 76%.
This is a particularly strong increase due to the simultaneous increase in electricity demand from just 34.2 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 1970 to a whopping 1,236 billion kWh in 2020. Per capita electricity consumption increase about 10 times from 1974 to 2020, from 126 kWh to 1208 kWh, of which coal meets most of this demand.
“India’s coal consumption has doubled since 2007 at a compound annual growth rate of 6% – and will be the growth driver of global coal demand.” write Jacob Koshy of The Hindu news agency. It is because of this increase in coal that India was able to power industry and achieve electrification in all its cities and villages by 2017. There is simply no good reason for water. This turns its back on coal.
“China has an installed capacity of 1,000 gigawatts of coal power. India has 200 gigawatts of installed coal capacity for the same number of people. Scaling up is completely different,” speak Aarti Khosla of Climate Trends. India won’t stop expanding its coal power sector, and it shouldn’t.
India’s current subsidies for fossil fuels are nine times higher than for so-called clean energy. “Energy security is my top priority…I will not compromise on the availability of electricity for the development of this country,” said India’s Energy Minister, RK Singh, alluding to his stance of no tolerance for coal use.
India expects its strength plants burn about 8% more coal in the current fiscal year 2023-2024 even as the country missed its 2022 renewable energy target by more than 30%. As of January 2023, India’s coal production is up 16.4% from the previous year. India’s thermal coal imports increase 15% increase by 2022. India’s coal ministry said that it plans to produce more than one billion tons of coal in 2023-2024.
With all that, India’s per capita electricity consumption is still 10 times lower than people living in countries like the US, Canada and South Korea. Indians, like people of developed countries, are entitled to use as much energy as possible to achieve the prosperity they deserve.
This commentary was first published at Reviews on BizPacJanuary 26, 2023, and can be accessed here.
Vijay Jayaraj is a Research Associate at CO2 Alliance, Arlington, Virginia. He holds a master’s degree in environmental science from the University of East Anglia, UK and resides in India.
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