Minister tells states to do coal blending to address supply-demand gap
The Government will lead in starting work on 30,000 MW of additional thermal capacity while it has already started work on 25,000 MW in addition to 25,000 MW that were already under construction.
Stating this, Minister for Power and New & Renewable Energy R. K. Singh met with his counterparts in states and union territories and shared his views on the steps that are being taken to address the growing power demand in the country, which he said is a sign of the fast growth of the Indian economy.
He underlined, “Need about 80,000 MW of thermal capacity under construction, to meet growing demand.”
Earlier, around 25,000 MW was under construction, mostly in the public sector. But this was not sufficient. “So, work was started on adding 25,000 MW, but we need to start work on additional 30,000 MW. In all, we need about 80,000 MW of thermal capacity under construction.”
All this capacity addition is being done through the public sector, private sector investment has not started coming, but the Minister said he was quite certain that private investments will come, as the system has been made viable and the sector gives returns.
Addressing the opening session of the National Conference of Power and New & Renewable Energy Ministers of States & UTs, being held in New Delhi 6-7 Nov, Minister Singh pointed out that India would not have become the fastest growing large economy of the world if it had not brought about a transformation in power sector.
“Economic growth is dependent on the power sector. Power sector is a fundamental driving force in the progress of the nation. All states should do coal blending, to address supply-demand gap,” he said.
The gap between domestic coal consumption and domestic coal arrival is another challenge, R K Singh informed the delegates.
“I am certain that Coal India must have increased production, but our demand has increased faster. This has led to shortages and that’s why we need to do 6% blending. NTPC and DVC are doing the blending, states too should do the blending, depending on shortage of coal.”
The Minister stressed that available coal will have to be distributed equitably among states, depending on the requirements.
“We don’t play politics in electricity. It is a fully integrated system; power is generated in some state and consumed in 3-4 different states. Coal is produced somewhere, wind somewhere and solar somewhere else. We are not going to do any favouritism. The shortage will have to be shared by all and supplemented by all.”
The Minister urged the states to set up new power plants near coal belts so that issues related to long-distance transportation of coal and availability of rakes do not arise.
The Minister also underlined the urgency to increase the pace of execution of projects and utilisation of funds.
R K Singh asked the states to leverage PM-Kusum to switch agricultural load to renewables and conserve coal-based generation for the night, since the challenge is during non-solar hours.
Welcoming all participants of the conference, the Power Secretary Pankaj Agarwal informed that about 10,000 MW of thermal capacity and 21,000 MW of renewable energy capacity were being added during this financial year. “We are taking concrete steps to move towards total capacity of 900 GW by 2031-32.”
Agarwal said that on the transmission front, the country has moved to General Network Access since 1 Oct 2023 and that new schemes are being regularly sanctioned.
“The Government of India has sanctioned Rs.21,000 crores project to evacuate 5,000 MW renewable energy from Ladakh. On distribution sector, we have seen significant results since implementation of Late Payment Surcharge Rules. The overdue amount has come down from Rs.139,000 crores to around Rs.67,000 crores.
The Secretary said that on energy efficiency front, the country has launched the carbon market. “We have started with mandate-based market and we will soon move to offset mechanism. We have started STAR labelling scheme for solar PV cells and panels; a large programme for demand aggregation for induction cookstoves and efficient fans has been launched by the Minister.”
On renewable energy front, Agarwal informed that Battery Energy Storage VGF Scheme has been sanctioned for 4,000 MWh capacity. “The RPOs have been notified under Energy Conservation Act. We have already simplified captive power plant regime and we are on our way to simplifying open access regime, to promote integration of renewable energy in the system.”
“The Government has set an ambitious goal of installing 500 GW non-fossil-fuel energy capacity by 2030,” added Secretary, New & Renewable Energy, Bhupinder Singh Bhalla.
As of 30 Sept 2023, 186 GW capacity from non-fossil sources has been installed, accounting for about 43.75% of total installed capacity. “We have attracted over US$80 billion in investment, including substantial FDI.” Fiinews.com
