India working to increase coal imports for power generation

• 11 years ago (2013-03-13)
• David Flin

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The Indian government is moving to increase coal imports and electricity generating capacity to reduce a power shortage that is hampering economic growth, Jyotiraditya Scindia, India’s Minister for Power, said. He also said that steps have been taken to prevent a repeat of the blackouts last July that affected more than half of the country’s population.

A key cause of India’s electricity deficit is a shortage of coal, which fuels 57 per cent of the country’s power plants. Getting enough coal to enable the power plants to meet India’s demand for electricity will require a combination of measures, including increased imports, higher power tariffs, and blending domestic coal with more expensive imported coal, Scindia said. He said: “There’s not much you can do about a coal shortage other than import coal.” He added that the Ministries of Power, Finance and Coal are working together to determine ways to blend imported coal with domestically produced coal.

Scindia also said that the government is working to add to India’s generating capacity. He said that he expects 17,000 MW to be added in the financial year ending March 31, bringing total capacity to 210,000 MW. The gap between peak demand and supply is currently 9.7 per cent. “If we can keep up this rate of adding capacity, we would be in a good position to meet our target of adding 88,000 MW by 2017.”