Pure energy: India can’t wish coal

India has always held a difficult position on coal, claiming that it is very important for its energy safety and development needs.

But energy experts and environmental activists are increasingly saying that it should try to decarbonize or reduce the emissions from coal power plants if it cannot be stopped at all.

“You can’t wish coal,” said Akho Lavas, a former secretary and environment, forest and climate change at the event on July 1.

“The question is that if coal is king, can it be a friendly king?”

This indicates that, realistically speaking, coal – although cleaner coal – may remain the main source of energy in India, despite many years of international climatic negotiations on the exclusion of high polluting fossil fuels.

But why did India – the third largest carbon release – decided to follow coal in the first place? After all, the country has international commitments to significantly reduce carbon emissions, as well as its own purpose to reduce the level to zero by 2070.

Part of the answer is to increase the requirements of the country.

The requirement for electricity in India increased by more than 9% from 2021 to 2025, exceeding the preliminary forecasting of 6.6% – and by 2030 it is forecast to double.

Power plants operating on coal create more than 70% of the total electricity since the early 2000s – a figure that remains unchanged.

But the environmental cost of this dependence on coal is huge.

It is estimated that only 40% of carbon-per annum and almost three-quarters of this electricity are derived from coal burning.

The country has succeeded in fulfilling its renewable energy goals – it makes 46% of India’s total power – but renewable sources have restrictions. They produce electricity when the sun rises and the wind blows.

Even in the daytime, experts say, deliveries from renewable sources can fluctuate, while thermal plants remain a permanent source of electricity and can meet peak demand in the evenings and at night.

Moreover, the energy storage capacity in India – or the ability to maintain excess electricity from renewable energy per day – could not keep up with the expansion of resources.

“This means that there is no other option (except for thermal energy for permanent delivery), if and until we have a large-scale storage number,” said Raji Porval, director of the Grid India, India’s network controller at the event, speaking at the event on June 1, organized by the Science and Environment Center.

Experts note that the constant delivery from thermal plants is crucial for the stability of the network, or the networks of towers and transmission lines, which carries electricity from power plants to consumers.

“Any great non-compliance with the supply and supply will destabilize the network, and this can mean a decrease in electricity and disabling, similar to what we recently saw in Spain,” says Anjan Kumar Sing, an expert of the independent energy sector.

With all these factors in the game, India seeks to reduce the emissions from the coal power plants instead of completely stop coal.

A recent CSE report states that only coal thermal plants can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30%.

This is especially important, given the country’s commitment to reduce the intensity of emissions (carbon emissions made per unit of economic production) by 45% by 2030 under the UN Convention on Climate Change.

But there are problems.

The overall problem that is facing thermal plants is that they should continue to work at least 55% of the capacity even a day, despite the fact that there are alternative renewable sources such as wind and solar energy that you need to hope.

All because operators cannot increase the capacity in the shortest possible time, especially at the peak of the evening when deliveries from renewable sources are reduced.

Experts say there is an urgent need to make thermal plants more effective so that they can work with less power.

“How low we can go (to reduce the minimum level) is a question,” said Ramesh, a member of the Central Electricity Regulation Regulation in India, speaking at the event. “Technically possible.”

Another way of increasing the efficiency of plants is to adapt technology that capture carbon dioxide emissions to avoid their escape to the atmosphere

But some say it has given limited results, and one assessment of the World Institute of Resources stated that the technology currently records only about 0.1% of world emissions.

The third proposal is to burn agricultural residues at the place of coal in thermal plants.

“This idea has led to a significant reduction in the use of coal in thermal power plants in Delhi and surrounding cities,” said Kumar’s party, CSE leader, which offered the emission methods in his recent report.

“But other parts of the country still have to take it seriously, though regulation requires them,” he added.

Experts say that decreased emissions from coal power plants will need large systems that include huge costs.

But how much this cost is worth – and who would carry it – these are hard questions that have no urgent answers.

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