Lok Sabha Question No. 1713 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-12-05
Subject: Rising dependence on Coal Imports
Ministry: POWER
Asked by: Dr. C M Ramesh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF POWER

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1713 ANSWERED ON 05.12.2024

## RISING DEPENDENCE ON COAL IMPORTS

1713. DR. C M RAMESH:

Will the Minister of POWER be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware of the increased quantity of coal imports in 2024  to  offset  the  shortfall  in  hydroelectric  power  generation  due  to  inadequate rainfall;
- (b) if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  measures  taken/being  taken  to mitigate the impact of reduced hydroelectric power including efforts to enhance the uptake of renewable energy sources in India's power generation mix; and
- (c) the  steps  taken/being  taken  to  reduce  reliance  on  coal,  especially  imported thermal coal as per commitment made by the Government to achieve carbon neutrality by 2070?

## A N S W E R

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF POWER

(SHRI SHRIPAD NAIK)

(a)  &  (b)  :   The  details  of  Hydro  generation  for  the  year  2022-23,  2023-24  and  the current year till October, 2024 are given at Annexure.

The variable monsoon rains in FY 2023-24 resulted in depleted reservoir levels leading to  sub-optimal hydro generation.  There was corresponding increase in coal based  generation,  including  generation  from  Imported  Coal  Based  (ICB)  plants. Consequently,  the  import  of  coal  by  power  plants  has  increased  from  55.6  MT  in 2022-23 to 65.7 MT in 2023-24. This is mainly due to increase in import by ICB plants from 20.5 MT to 41.8 MT.  However, during this period, the import of coal by domestic coal based (DCB) plants for blending has decreased from 35.1 MT to 23.9 MT.

Further, during the period from April to October, 2024, the import of coal by power plants has increased from 35.3 MT to 40.9 MT as compared to the same period last  year,  showing  an  increase  of  about  16%.  This  is  mainly  due  to  increase  in generation  from  ICB  plants  from  45.363  BUs  to  56.258  BUs  during  this  period consequently  resulting  in  increase  in  import  from  21.7  MT  to  30.0  MT.  During  the same period, the import of coal by domestic coal based (DCB) plants for blending has decreased from 13.6 MT to 10.9 MT.

The Government has undertaken following measures to enhance the uptake of renewable energy sources:

- i. Waiver of ISTS charges on transmission of electricity generated/supplied from Solar, Wind, Pumped Storage Plants and Battery Energy Storage Systems.
- ii. Renewable  Purchase Obligations (RPOs) and Energy Storage obligations Trajectory till 2029-30.
- iii. Construction of Green Energy Corridors and putting in place of 13 Renewable Energy Management Centres.
- iv. Setting  up  of  Ultra  Mega  Renewable  Energy  Parks  to  provide  land  and transmission  to  Renewable  Energy  (RE)  developers  for  installation  of  RE projects at large scale.
5. (c)  :    The  Government  has  taken  following  capacity  addition  programme  in  Hydro, nuclear and Renewable sectors to reduce dependence on coal based generation:
- i. 13,997.5 MW of Hydro Electric Projects and 6,050 MW of Pumped Storage Projects  are  under  construction  and  24,225.5  MW  of  Hydro  Electric Projects and 50,760 MW of PSP are under various stage of planning.
- ii. 7,300 MW of Nuclear Capacity is under construction and 7,000 MW is under various stages of planning/approval.
- iii. 1,27,050 MW of Renewable Capacity is under construction and 89,690 MW is under various stages of tendering.
- iv. India  has  committed  to  augment  non  fossil  fuel  based  installed  electric generation capacity to over 5,00,000 MW by 2030.
- v. As per the extant policy regarding co-firing of biomass pellets with coal in Thermal  Power  Plants,  all  coal  based  thermal  power  plants  of  power generation  utilities  shall  on  annual  basis  mandatorily  use  5%  blend  of biomass pellets made, primarily, of agro residue along with coal w.e.f. FY 2024-25. This obligation shall increase to 7% from FY 2025-26.

Further, the Government has taken following steps to increase production of domestic coal and thereby reducing reliance on imported coal:

- i. Regular  reviews  by  Ministry  of  Coal  to  expedite  the  development  of  coal blocks.
- ii. Enactment of Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2021 (MMDR Act) for enabling captive mines owners (other than atomic minerals) to sell up to 50% of their annual mineral (including coal) production in the open market after meeting the requirement of the end use plant linked with  the  mine  in  such  manner  as  may  be  prescribed  by  the  Central Government on payment of such additional amount.
- iii. Single Window  Clearance  portal for the coal sector to  speed up the operationalization of coal mines
- iv. Project Monitoring Unit for hand-holding of coal block allottees for obtaining various approvals / clearances for early operationalization of coal mines.
- v. Auction of commercial mining on revenue sharing basis was launched in 2020. Under  commercial  mining  scheme,  rebate  of  50  %  on  final  offer  has  been allowed  for  the  quantity  of  coal  produced  earlier  than  scheduled  date  of production. Further, incentives on coal gasification or liquefaction (rebate of 50 % on final offer) have been granted.
- vi. Terms  and  conditions  of  commercial  coal  mining  are  very  liberal  with  no restriction on utilization of coal, allowing new companies to participate in the bidding  process,  reduced  upfront  amount,  adjustment  of  upfront  amount against monthly payment, liberal efficiency parameters to encourage flexibility  to  operationalize  the  coal  mines,  transparent  bidding  process, 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) through automatic route  and revenue sharing model based on the National Coal Index.
- vii. The Annual Contracted Quantity (ACQ) has been increased upto 100% of the normative requirement, in cases where the ACQ was either reduced to 90% of normative requirement (non-coastal) or where the ACQ was reduced to 70% of normative requirement (coastal power plants). Increase in the ACQ would result in more domestic coal supplies, thereby, reducing the import dependency.
- viii.  Government  has  decided  in  2022  that  the  coal  to  meet  the  full  PPA requirement of all the existing linkage holders of Power Sector shall be made available by the coal companies irrespective of the trigger level and Annual Contracted Quantity levels. The decision of the Government of meeting the full PPA requirement of the linkage holders of the Power Sector shall reduce the dependence on the imports.
- ix. An Inter - Ministerial Committee (IMC) has been constituted in the Ministry of Coal  on  29.05.2020  for  the  purpose  of  coal  import  substitution.  A  strategy paper  on  coal  import  substitution  has  been  launched  by  Ministry  of  Coal focusing on future roadmap on coal imports substitution

In addition, coal companies have also taken the following steps to increase the domestic coal production:

- i. Coal  India  Limited  (CIL)  has  adopted  number  of  measures  to  increase  coal production. In its  Underground  (UG) mines, CIL is  adopting  Mass Production Technologies (MPT), mainly with Continuous Miners (CMs), wherever feasible. CIL  has  also  planned  High  walls  (HW)  mines  in  view  of  the  availability  of Abandoned/ Discontinued mines. CIL is also planning large capacity UG mines wherever feasible. In its Open cast (OC) mines, CIL already has State-of-theArt technology in its high-capacity Excavators, Dumpers and Surface Miners.
- ii.  Regular liaison is being undertaken by Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) for grounding of new projects and operation of existing projects. SCCL has  initiated  action  for  developing  infrastructure  for  evacuation  of  coal  like Coal Handling Plants (CHPs), Crushers, Mobile Crushers, Pre-weigh-bins etc.

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ANNEXURE ANNEXURE  REFERRED  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  &  (b)  OF  UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1713 ANSWERED IN THE LOK SABHA ON 05.12.2024 ************* The details of Hydro generation for the year 2022-23, 2023-24 and the current year till October, 2024

|   Sl. No. | Year                   | Generation (MU)   |
|-----------|------------------------|-------------------|
|         1 | 2022-23                | 1,62,099          |
|         2 | 2023-24                | 1,34,054          |
|         3 | 2024-25 (Upto October) | 1,09,078          |

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