India added 4 GW of coal-fired power generation capacity this year, according to the country’s Central Electricity Authority, about the same amount of new coal-based generation it added in 2023. Last year’s total was the highest level of new coal-fired capacity added in the country since 2019.
The Indian government has said the country plans to add as much as 90 GW of new coal-fired capacity by 2032 to meet increased demand for electricity, although officials acknowledge the current pace of new installations lags that target. India currently has about 215 GW of operating coal-fired generation capacity.
Meanwhile, government officials on Dec. 27 issued a mandate for power plants using imported coal to operate at full capacity for at least the next two months, extending an emergency clause for power output first issued this summer. Prices for imported coal have fallen this year compared to year-ago levels, according to government figures. Those power plants, with cumulative capacity of about 16 GW, are operated primarily by Vedanta, Tata Power, and Adani Power.
India receives more than 70% of its electricity from coal-fired generation. The country is the second-largest consumer of coal worldwide, trailing only China. India has about 300 coal-fired power plants.
The said global use of coal is at an all-time high and expected to reach a record 8.77 billion tonnes this year. The IEA expects the use of coal will remain at record levels at least through 2027.
India’s government is working to increase the country’s domestic production of coal. Officials also have said they want to launch an exchange market for the fuel in 2025 to facilitate trading of coal as a commodity. Coal Additional Secretary Rupinder Brar in a recent interview with news agency Press Trust of India said that “the demand [for coal] is extremely important. And we do see demand growing in India considering the growing size of the economy … therefore, coal will also definitely be required and we are conscious of that and are working towards that.”
Deloitte India has said production of thermal coal in India is expected to grow at an annual rate of at least 8% in the next few years, primarily due to demand from the power generation sector. The country’s coal production over the past year hit 997.83 million tonnes, according to government figures, nearly a 12% increase over the prior year.
—Darrell Proctor is a senior editor for POWER.
