Coal India – CleanTechies

World’s Largest Coal Miner To Shut 37 Loss-making Mines In India

written by saurabh

Coal India, the largest coal producing company in the world, recently announced plans to shutdown some mines that are no longer economically viable.

Government-owned Coal India recently informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that it will shut 37 underground mines as it is financially unviable to continue mining coal from them. The company plans to shut these mines by March 2018.

These mines comprise of about 9% of the total mines operational under Coal India. Media reports quoting industry sources stated that the company is expected to realise savings of Rs 800 crore ($124 million).

Coal India’s provisional production in 2016-17 was 554.13 million tonnes against a target of 598.61 million tonnes and recording a growth rate of 2.9 per cent. Of this underground mining contributed to around 31 million tonnes.

While underground mines have their own set of constraints and hurdles which significantly increase the cost of production, increased competition from renewable energy technologies, where fuel cost is nil, could also be a contributing factor.

Increased Competition From Renewable Energy

Earlier this year, solar power tariffs in India fell 26% over a period of 3 months as project developers placed extremely competitive bids for large-scale projects. The current lowest solar power tariff in India stands at Rs 2.44/kWh (3.8¢/kWh).

Wind energy tariffs in the first-ever auction organised by the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy were also substantially lower than the feed-in tariffs enforced by various states. The current lowest wind energy tariff bid in India is Rs 3.46/kWh (5.4¢/kWh) and is expected to fall further as 5-6 gigawatts wind energy capacity is planned to be auctioned every year till 2022.

Recent reports also stated that almost 14 gigawatts of planned coal-based power plants were shelved in India over financial viability concerns.

Renewable energy capacity addition, too, increased at a much faster rate in FY2016-17 compared to coal-based power plants.

A total of 6,990 megawatts of coal-based power capacity was added in India in FY2016-17 while the thermal power capacity addition during the financial year stood at 7,655 megawatts. In comparison, 14,140 megawatts of renewable energy capacity was added in the same period.

Coal India itself is planning to set up large-scale solar power projects. The company is expected to set up at least 1 gigawatts solar power capacity in the near future.

June 18, 2017 0 comment

12 Renewable Energy Policy Initiatives Implemented By India (Part 1)

written by saurabh

Since the National Democratic Alliance government took to power in May 2014 several landmark policy initiatives have been undertaken in the renewable energy sector. The result of these initiatives has been that India now stands to become the third-largest solar power market in the world and remains one of the largest wind energy markets in the world.

In this four part series of the articles we will briefly analyse the various initiatives of the Indian government and what impact they have on the renewable energy market. In this part we will look at the macro-level directional policy initiatives.

5x Increase In Renewable Energy Targets

When the National Solar Mission was launched in late 2010 the installed capacity target for March 2022 was 20 gigawatts of utility-scale projects and 2 gigawatts of rooftop solar power projects. In May 2014, this target was increased to 100 gigawatts installed capacity by March 2022. The government set a target to set up 20 gigawatts through solar power parks, which was subsequently increased to 40 gigawatts. The target for rooftop solar power projects was increased to 40 gigawatts by March 2022.

Wind energy capacity target was set as 60 gigawatts and the overall renewable energy target was set at 175 gigawatts by March 2022. The Renewable Purchase Obligation for solar power was increased from 3% by March 2022 to 8%.

Renewable Generation Obligation

The Renewable Generation Obligation is an extension of the Renewable Purchase Obligation and was actually implemented following the disastrous outcome of the latter. According to an amendment in the National Tariff Policy, any project developer looking to develop a thermal power plant will have to set up renewable energy projects equivalent to at least 10% of the planned thermal power project. This also paves way for integrated supply of thermal power as well as renewable energy through the same power purchase agreement.

Renewable Energy Targets For Government Entities

After increasing the renewable energy targets by five times the Indian government allocated capacity addition targets amongst its own entities. Government-owned companies and entities were given individual capacity addition targets. NTPC, NHPC, Coal India, Indian Railways and several other companies pledged to add wind and solar power capacity during the first-ever renewable energy investors summit in 2015. Public sector companies pledged to add more than 19 gigawatts in renewable energy capacity in that summit. Shipping ports, airports and even the Indian armed forces also announced plans to set up large-scale renewable energy projects.

May 20, 2017 0 comment