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Coal secretary Anil Swarup says his heart is in renewable energy but his official capacity demands of him to pursue diligently the fossil fuel production target of 1.5 billion tonnes (bt) by 2020, including 1 bt by Coal India. The two-pronged objective is to progressively reduce dependence on coal imports, which prove expensive for domestic users and ensure uninterrupted production of electricity.
Thermal power plants across the country now have an average coal inventory of 21 days requirements. Electricity generation in the country is largely coal-based. At 2014 December-end, of the total installed power generation capacity of 255,682 Mw, the share of coal-based capacity was as much as 154,171 Mw. The compulsion for India to put reliance on coal-fired electricity is understandable.
First, it is endowed with the world's fifth largest coal reserves of around 300 bt. Second, thermal power, which also includes gas- and diesel-based electricity, is at this point crucial to the government chasing a double-digit gross domestic product growth.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is acutely aware the present overwhelming share of thermal plants in the country's electricity generation is not enhancing its green credentials and he is keen to put renewable energy system growth on fast track. For long, conventional wisdom has linked environment-damaging energy-related emissions to industrial and transportation growth.
But the International Energy Agency (IEA) says that for the first time since its founding in 1974, energy-related carbon emissions growth was flat in 2014, even while the world economy grew. Does this signal the end of the long-established link between economic growth and carbon emissions? In what will be seen as an affront here, IEA chief economist Fatih Birol told Financial Times, 'There was is guarantee that carbon pollution levels would stay flat in the future, partly because India and other nations are still building inefficient, polluting coal power plants."
Compare this with IEA chief executive Maria van der Hoeven describing all the recently-built coal-fired power plants in China as state-of-the-art, good for replication by other emerging economies.
What China needs, according to Hoeven, is an image makeover since "people think about that country in a way more representative of previous decades". Comments highlighting the emission risk potential of some thermal units here in the pipeline will be upsetting for Modi, who wants India at par with China in every area, from clean electricity to steel capacity.
In about a year in power, the National Democratic Alliance government has started chasing a target of 100 Gw of solar and 60 Gw of wind energy. At the same time, water resources exploitation for building a chain of small hydro projects is to get a thrust. Official commitment to put green energy development on a fast track has encouraged Japan's SoftBank to partner Bharti Enterprises and China's Foxconn Technology to start work on building at least 20 Gw of solar capacity. Like China, India will be making a pledge to combat climate change in preparation of the 21st United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP 21) and it wants a highly expanded generation profile of renewable energy.
This will be seen as India's commitment to the world peaking energy-related emissions at an early date but at no economic cost. IEA says world greenhouse gas emissions from energy production and its use are twice as much as from all other sources.
A Cabinet paper says a much higher level of renewable energy production has the potential to "reduce stress on transmission and distribution network resulting in improved grid management". Thanks to collateral benefits derived from a 70 per cent cost fall for solar panels, resulting from mass market created by Chinese drive for eco-friendly sustainable energy, the Indian task to embark on generating renewable electricity on a very large scale has become easier.
Hoeven says as in so many sectors, China is "now the world's largest wind power market. It has increased its power generation from renewable from really nothing 10 years ago, and now it's 25 per cent. These are very important signals that China is moving in the right direction."
As for India, the share of renewable energy in total electricity capacity is a modest 36,000 Mw. The renewable obligation has got to be universal, going beyond commissioning large wind and solar electricity projects. Installing solar panels on the rooftops of large commercial buildings and homeowners should be seen as a badge of honour. In country after country, the success in growth of renewable energy is underpinned by significant tax breaks and enhanced tariff.
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