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India Plans to double coal output by 2020

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has set an ambitious target for state-owned producer Coal India to more than double output to one billion tons by 2020.

     Coal India is the world's largest coal producer and accounts for over 80% of national production. In the financial year ending in March, the company lifted annual production 7% to an output of 494 million tons.

 The government has complementary plans to develop railways and inland waterways to distribute coal from mines around the country. When it came to power in May 2014, "coal was a burning issue", according to Piyush Goyal, the power and coal minister.

     "We now have adequate quantities of coal across the country," Goyal told a group of journalists on Wednesday. "Two years from now, imports of thermal coal will be brought down to zero."

     India imported 168.4 million tons of coal from countries such as Australia, Indonesia and South Africa in the year ending in March 2014.

     Mahanadi Coalfields, a subsidiary of Coal India in the eastern state of Odisha, is one of the larger mines slated for increased output, rising from 120 million tons annually at present to 250 million by 2020.

     According to Goyal, his ministry is working with the ministry of railways in a joint venture to improve distribution.

     "We are also creating inland waterways," said Goyal, running down a list of contributions from other ministries. "This is the system of governance that India had been waiting to see for so many years, when collective and collaborative federalism becomes the mainstay of national progress."

     India has meanwhile embarked on a programme to replace 770 million light bulbs with more energy efficient light emitting diodes (LEDs) over the next three years. The government also hopes to produce 175 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2022.

Goyal said the developed world should support such efforts in developing countries. "They should participate and share this responsibility," he said.

     In a panel discussion on Sept.29, Goyal confirmed that coal will continue to be India's main energy source, and said related pollution can be checked through technological innovation. He predicted that by 2030 India will run largely on modern, efficient coal-burning plants.

source: http://asia.nikkei.com