Ahead of COP-28, India moves to expand coal power capacity as demand surges

India is doubling down on coal-fired power ahead of the COP-28 climate meet as a sharp uptick in the economy fuels a surge in electricity demand, with power minister R K Singh on Monday saying the country has to start work on 30,000 MW (wegawatt) new thermal generation capacity on top of 50,000 MW already underway to avoid shortage.

“There is going to be pressure on nations at COP-28 to reduce coal usage.

We are not going to do this… we are not going to compromise on availability of power for our growth, even if it requires that we add coal-based capacity,” Singh said in his opening remarks at the annual state energy ministers’ meeting here.

Describing electricity as a “fundamental driving force in the progress of the nation”, Singh pointed out that demand grew more than 20% annually in August, September and October. “We met peak demand of 2.41 lakh MW recently, while peak demand was 1.9 lakh MW in 2017-18. If the peak grows higher, we may not be able to meet it,” he said, pointing to the underlying challenge.

The solution, the minister said, lay in adding more coal-based capacity. “Earlier, around 25,000 MW was under construction… But this was not sufficient. So, we started work on adding 25,000 MW. But we need to start work on an additional 30,000 MW, i.e., we need about 80,000 MW of thermal capacity under construction,” he said.

As an interim measure, Singh asked all states to run their power plants at full capacity and import coal for blending with domestic fuel to reduce burden on Coal India Limited, which supplies 80% fuel to the sector. For good measure, he warned that the Centre will not be able to play the white knight states that are not running their own plants but tapping the Central pool.

At the same time, Singh assured that India will achieve the targets “we had set for ourselves at COP”. He pointed to the measures to boost renewable energy procurement by utilities and advised states to meet the farm sector demand from green sources through schemes such as KUSUM.