India's coal demand likely to peak between 2030-2035

The demand for coal in India will continue and is likely to peak between 2030-2035, Union Minister of Coal, Mines, and Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi informed Parliament during the recent sessions. Coal is the major source of energy in India. In 2022-23 (April-October), the coal consumption in coal-based power plants increased to 447.6 million tonnes (MT) as compared to 398.2 million tonnes during the same period of last year with a growth of 12 per cent, the minister said in a written reply. Being an affordable source of energy with substantial reserve, coal is going to stay as major source of energy in the foreseeable future. The country will require base load capacity of coal-based generation for stability and also for energy security, Joshi said. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy plans to achieve about 50 per cent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030. So far, a total of 172.72 GW of capacity from non-fossil fuel sources has been installed in the country as of October, which includes119.09 GW RE (includes Solar 61.63 GW, Wind 41.84 GW, SHP 4.92 GW and Bio-Power 10.70 GW), 46.85 GW Large Hydro and 6.78 GW Nuclear Power capacity.