The current crisis should be seen as a window of opportunity to not go back to producing more coal but to begin the transition to explore green and renewable energy
Coal shortage at thermal power projects is still continuing. News18
With a coal shortage at thermal power projects persisting and India continuing to grapple with an energy crisis, the need of the hour is for the Centre to shift focus towards renewable and nuclear energy sources.
Not only are these sources sustainable, but they are also cost-effective in the long run.
Official data showed the number of projects having less than four days of coal (supercritical stock) remaining rose to 61 on Tuesday from 58 on Monday. That number was at 65 on 12 October.
Meaning that the situation has improved, but India still is not out of the woods.
Let’s briefly examine why India is facing a coal shortage, as well as the scope and challenges of investing in renewable and nuclear energy.
Why is India facing coal shortage
Even though India is the second-largest importer, consumer and producer of coal, it barely had one days’ worth of coal reserves on 10 October to generate electricity. Since coal produces nearly 70 percent of India’s electricity, there was panic about a mass blackout.
The present coal shortage is a classic case of demand-supply mismatch. With the economic activity picking up pace, power consumption in the past two months year-on-year rose to around 17 percent. On the supply side, monsoon-induced disruptions and flooding of mines interrupted domestic coal production. It’s hard to meet this shortage through imports as global coal prices are up by 50 percent and India’s coal imports are at a two-year low.
To further add to the woes, countries like China (which is facing its own domestic energy issues) are aggressively buying more coal from the global reserves, adding pressure on global prices.
Scope and challenges of renewable energy
India has set ambitious targets to increase the share of renewable energy (RE) in its energy mix. The government plans to install 175 GW of renewable energy projects by 2022 and 450 GW by 2030.
According to a report in The Hindu, solar power can be promoted through subsidies and promotions and the recent innovations have made it cost-effective to considered as a viable replacement of coal. Wind power through windmills can also be harnessed to generate electricity.
Another alternative could be waste-to-energy treatment plants. India produces nearly 1,50,000 tonnes of solid waste per day which is the third-highest in the world. Of this waste, only 70 percent is collected and 20 percent is processed and the remaining is dumped. This waste can be used to produce electricity.
But there are critical barriers to their realisation. Coal and coal-dependent sectors are providers of livelihood, infrastructure and cost-competitive electricity. Therefore, for the long term, such concerns about the phasing out of coal to produce electricity from the communities in the coal mining regions should be duly acknowledged and adequately addressed.
This undertaking would become easier if a national task force is set-up, including representatives from not just the industry and academics, but also community leaders, activists, and members of the grassroots organisations. This task force can design policies which can accelerate the transition to cleaner technologies while preserving the livelihood of coal-dependent families.
The above mentioned alternatives can be adopted only as a long-term strategy, but the current crisis could be considered as a window of opportunity to not go back to producing more coal but to begin the transition to exploring green and renewable methods of producing energy, added the report.
Opportunities and gaps in nuclear energy
As of now, India produces about 6.7 GW power from nuclear fuel from its 22 nuclear power plants, effectively contributing 1.8 percent to the total energy mix. This is way lower than the vision of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), which hoped to produce at least 20 GW of nuclear power by 2020, and at least 48 GW by 2030.
The government, after a long pause, in its budgetary announcements of 2017-18 provided for the construction of 10 units of 700 MW indigenous PHWRs. The government has announced that seven more reactors with a cumulative capacity of 5,500 MW are under construction. It has also cleared the paperwork for 12 more reactors with a cumulative capacity of 9,000 MW.
While these are significant initiatives, the future of nuclear energy in India looks less promising than it did about a decade ago. With the signing of the India-US nuclear deal in 2008 and other important agreements with France and Japan, India’s nuclear energy sector looked set for a promising overhaul. However, post- 2011, there has been an evident slowdown in the country’s nuclear energy sector, said a report in The Diplomat.
A primary reason for the slowdown has been the delays in rolling out the second stage of the nuclear fuel program. Other factors involve the critical disruptions that renewable energy technologies have caused in the global energy systems. With the commercialisation and enhanced use of renewable energy technologies, the per unit cost of electricity produced from renewables has gone down significantly.
The cost of solar power in India right now is Rs 2.62 per unit, almost half of the per unit cost of electricity being produced by the recently operational Kudankulam nuclear power plant (Rs 4.10 per unit), added the report.
With inputs from PTI