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The coal sector is likely to witness a spate of activities in the upcoming year from launching maiden coal exchange to facilitating trading and rate determination of dry-fuel to meet the booming demand of the economy. The government also intends to work more closely in the area of coal gasification as it is on a high priority list for energy transition. Coal gasification is a cleaner option compared to burning of coal as it facilitates utilisation of the chemical properties of dry fuel. Talking to PTI, Coal Additional Secretary Rupinder Brar said that "the demand (for coal) is extremely important. And we do see demand growing in India considering the growing size of the economy... Therefore, coal will also definitely be required and we are conscious of that and are working towards that". The efforts will be to continuously augment coal output and align it with the demand, she said. Brar said the pre-2014 policy on mine allocation has been disbanded and now the government gives blo
Coal India and its subsidiary Western Coalfields have identified four to five closed mines in the Chhindwara Pench area for setting up green projects for optimum utilisation of assets, Union Coal Secretary Amrit Lal Meena said on Sunday. Meena at the Western Coal Fields headquarters here told reporters that Coal India will install integrated solar and pump storage projects in de-coaled land from where coal has been extracted fully. The move is aimed at the optimum utilisation of WCL assets and 4-5 old mines have been identified in the Chhindwara Pench area wherein integrated solar and hydropower plants would be set up to contribute to green energy production, the secretary said. He informed that he along with the WCL chairman and managing director and other officials visited and inspected the old coal mines where mining work has finished. " WCL will survey more such de-coaled assets in the region and after assessment by experts, WCL will try to make optimum use of those assets of W
Coal-based thermal power units' plant load factor (PLF) or capacity utilisation will improve to 65 per cent in the current fiscal year despite record renewable energy capacity addition, according to Crisil Ratings. "Healthy PLFs along with lower receivables and encouraging fuel supply will support the credit profiles of private coal-based generating companies (gencos)," Crisil Ratings said in a statement. The PLFs of coal-based power plants in India will improve to 65 per cent this fiscal despite record renewable energy (RE) capacity addition, it added. Over the past two fiscals, electricity demand witnessed a robust 8-9 per cent annual growth, driven by the post-pandemic economic rebound, the agency noted. During this period, 34 gigawatts (GW) of capacity has been added, with 90 per cent of it in RE, the statement said. In GW terms, this is a 9 per cent growth in power capacities, but on normative terms this was only 4-5 per cent growth as capacities operate at varying PLFs, and
Union Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi on Thursday said to meet the coal requirements of the country, it is necessary that all subsidiaries of Coal India Ltd (CIL) achieve their annual targets. Joshi visited Western Coalfields Ltd headquarters in Nagpur and attended various programmes, said a press release issued by WCL. Western Coalfields Ltd (WCL) is one of the eight subsidiary companies of CIL, a central PSU. The minister also presided over a review meeting and took stock of the production, productivity and coal dispatch status of WCL, said the release. Chairman-cum-Managing Director of WCL Manoj Kumar briefed the minister on coal mining activities and assured the company would achieve the production target by the year-end. In order to meet the coal requirements of the country, it is necessary that all CIL subsidiaries achieve their annual targets, the release quoted Joshi as saying. He said to make the country self-reliant in the coal sector, it is necessary to strengthen the ...