Coal news and updates

India Plans to Reduce Coal-Fired Generation, and Mine More Coal

India’s Power Ministry, despite the country facing shortages of electricity in recent years and as recently as the past month, said it plans to reduce the amount of power generation from at least 81 of the country’s 173 coal-fired power plants over the next four years.

The agency, in a letter dated May 26 that was sent to top federal government, state, and energy department officials, said the country needs to support renewable resources to maximize cleaner power generation and reduce energy costs. The agency, though, said the plan does not include closing older coal-fired power plants.

“The thermal power plants in [the] future shall operate up to the technical minimum to accommodate cheaper renewable energy when it is available,” the ministry said in the letter. The International Energy Agency has said India, with a population of about 1.4 billion, is expected to see its demand for electricity more than double by 2030. Much of that demand comes as more and more homes and offices install air conditioning.

The ministry also sent a letter to all utilities in India, saying Coal India—the country’s state-owned mining company—“would import coal for blending on government-to-government (G2G) basis and supply … to thermal power plants of state generators and independent power producers (IPPs).” It would mark the first time Coal India has imported coal since 2015.

That move comes as the country’s Coal Ministry issued a call to reopen some of India’s older mines in an effort to increase domestic production of coal.