Coal will remain the mainstay fuel for power generation in India in the next two decades despite stiff competition from rapid capacity additions of renewable energy, an official at state-owned Coal India said Tuesday.
Thermal coal, which accounts for about 55% of India’s electricity generation, will still account for 48%-54% going up to 2040, even as the country embarks on an ambitious plan to add huge renewable energy capacity, Director of Marketing at Coal India, S N Prasad, said at the Indian Coal Markets Conference in Kolkota.
Coal India was on track to achieve its production target of 1 billion mt by 2019, Prasad said, adding that higher domestic output has saw imports of seaborne cargoes fall 19% year on year in its India’s 2016-2017 fiscal year.