India has not taken any decision about expanding its massive coal-fired power generation fleet beyond 2035, the country’s power ministry secretary, Pankaj Agarwal, told Reuters this weekend.
“India wants to secure its energy requirements,” Agarwal told Reuters on the sidelines of an event, adding that as on 2035, India aims to have 307 gigawatts (GW) of coal power capacity.
It would be “premature to say what we want to do beyond 2035,” the official said.
Reports emerged last week that India’s authorities are considering a significant boost to coal-fired power plant capacity beyond the current 2035 peak coal expansion date and could continue building coal plants until at least 2047.
If the plan to expand the coal power fleet by 2047 goes through, India could have as much as 420 GW of coal power capacity by that year, nearly double the current level, or a massive 87% jump from 2025, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing sources with knowledge of the plans.
Coal-fired power generation and capacity installations in India continue to rise and coal remains a key pillar of India’s electricity mix with about 60% share of total power output.
India’s annual installations of new coal-fired power capacity hit 4 gigawatts in 2024, flat on the five-year high of 2023 and the highest level since 2019, according to official government figures.
Despite booming renewable capacity additions, India continues to rely on coal to meet most of its power demand as authorities also look to avoid blackouts in cases of severe heat waves.
Coal will still be a key part of India’s power system for the next two decades, Rajnath Ram, adviser for energy at policy making agency NITI Aayog, said in September.
“We cannot be subjective about coal. The question is how sustainably we can use it,” the official noted.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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