India’s coal minister says India should use more coal

Coal to supply over half of India’s energy needs.

Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said 55% of India’s primary energy supply is coal-based. This situation is likely to continue in the future because of abundant reserves; the low cost of coal and better coal supply security.

Jaiswal said coal-based power generation rose 14% last financial year due to a 12% hike in coal supplies to power utilities to reach 339 million tonnes.

Jaiswal said the Cabinet Committee on Investment had expedited decisions favoring the continued use of coal. As a result, a few blocks of state-owned Coal India were being developed while 14 additional blocks had been allocated to companies under the new reserve auctioning regime.

India added 56,000 MW of new power capacity in the last Plan period ended March 2012 as against 21,000 MW in the 10th Plan and 20,000 MW in the Ninth Plan.