IN PARLIAMENT GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COAL LOK SABHA

by up to 50% without a fresh environmental impact assessment or public consultation;

08.02.2023

SHRI

Will the Minister of Coal be pleased to state:

(a) the year-wise details of the supply of coal and its consumption in the country;

(b) whether the country is currently facing a coal shortage and if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether it is a fact that the Ministry has requested the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to allow coal mines with existing environmental clearances to increase their production by up to 40% and to hike production

(d) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and

(e) the other steps being taken by the Government to ensure adequate supply of coal?

Answer

MINISTER OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS, COAL AND MINES

(SHRI PRALHAD JOSHI)

(a): Details of coal supply and consumption in the country for the last five years and the current year (upto January, 2023) are as under:

(b): There is no shortage of coal in the country. The all India coal production in the year 20212022 was 778.19 MT in comparison to 716.08 MT in the year 2020-2021. Further, in the current financial year upto January, 2023, the country has produced about 698.24 MT of coal as compared to about 602.49 MT during the same period of last year with a growth of about 16%.

(c) & (d): Ministry of Coal has requested the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) to allow coal mines with existing Environmental Clearances to increase their production up to 40%, to hike by up to 50% without Fresh Environmental Impact Assessment or Public Consultation. Considering the above request, MoEF&CC has issued an OM dated 11.04.2022 on "Guidelines for Granting Environmental Clearance under para 7 (ii) (a) of EIA Notification, 2006, for expansion upto 50% within the existing premises / Mine lease area, without additional land acquisition" and another OM dated 07.05.2022 on "Special dispensation for consideration of Environmental Clearance for 50% expansion in Coal mining projects, within the existing premises/Mine lease area, without additional land acquisition".

(e): Supply of coal to the power plants is a continuous process. To address the issues of coal supplies to Power Sector, an Inter-Ministerial Sub Group comprising of representatives from Ministry of Power, Ministry of Coal, Ministry of Railways, Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Coal India Limited (CIL) and Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) meet regularly to take various operational decisions to enhance supply of coal to thermal power plants as well as for meeting any contingent situations relating to Power Sector including to alleviate critical coal stock position in power plants.

In addition to this, an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) has been constituted comprising of

Chairman, Railway Board; Secretary, Ministry of Coal; Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Secretary, Ministry of Power; to monitor augmentation of coal supply and power generation capacity. Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and Chairperson, CEA are co-opted as Special Invitees as and when required by the IMC. Coal dispatch from the captive coal blocks is also being monitored regularly.

Coal India Limited, the largest supplier of coal in the country, has dispatched 572.25 MT of coal in the current fiscal (April – January, 2023) achieving a growth of 5.5 % over last year same period. Similarly, Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) has dispatched 54.1 MT of coal in the in the current fiscal (April – January, 2023).

08.02.2023

SHRI DHANUSH M. KUMAR:

SHRI C.N.ANNADURAI:

SHRIMATI MANJULATA MANDAL:

SHRIMATI SUPRIYA SULE:

SHRI SELVAM G.:

DR. DNV SENTHILKUMAR.S:

DR. AMOL RAMSING KOLHE:

DR. SUBHASH RAMRAO BHAMRE:

SHRI SUNIL DATTATRAY TATKARE:

SHRI KULDEEP RAI SHARMA:

Will the Minister of Coal be pleased to state:

(a) the details of the demand and supply of coal

State-wise and plant-wise with particular reference to the States of Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Maharashtra;

(b) whether there is huge gap between demand and supply of coal in the country and if so, the details thereof along with the percentage of Country’s energy needs that are met through Coal;

(c) whether the demand for coal has increased to meet the energy requirement of the country, if so, the reasons for not increasing the domestic coal production so as to reduce the dependence on imported coal and save foreign currency;

(d) whether it is proposed to reduce the use of coal globally to save the environment; and

(e) if so, the details thereof along with the rea- sons for the increase in the use of coal in the country?

Answer

(a)&(b): The total demand and total supply of coal and domestic supply of coal to the States of Odisha, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu for the last three years are given below:

*Figures on domestic supply of coal to states are provisional.

As conveyed by CEA, the actual electricity generation from coal based power plants, total generation and contribution of coal based generation in total generation in the country during the last five years and the current year 2022-23 (April to November, 2022) are given as under:-

(c): The actual demand for coal increased to 1027.92 Million tonne in 2021-22 from 906.13 MT in 2020-21. For the current year 2022-23, coal demand has been assessed by the Ministry to reach 1087 MT. As against the increased coal demand, domestic coal production has also increased. In 2021-22, the domestic coal production increased by 8.67% to reach 778.19

MT from 716.08 MT in 2020-21. Further, the following measures have been taken by the Government to enhance the production of coal in the country: i. Identification and development of new Coal blocks, including through captive and commercial route. ii. Enactment of Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2021 for enabling captive mine 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 handholding of coal block allottees for obtaining various approvals/clearances for early operationalization of coal mines. v. Commercial auction of coal blocks on revenue sharing basis. Under commercial mining scheme, rebate of 50 % on final offer would be allowed for the quantity of coal produced earlier than scheduled date of production. Also, incentives on coal gasification or liquefaction (rebate of 50 % on final offer) have been granted.

Generation (Billion Units) vi. Coal India Limited is adopting Mass Production Technologies (MPT) in its Underground (UG) mines, mainly Continuous Miners (CMs), wherever feasible. Coal India Limited has also envisaged working large numbers of Highwalls (HW) mines in view of the availability of Abandoned/Discontinued mines. Coal India Limited is also planning large capacity UG mines wherever feasible. vii. In Opencast (OC) mines, Coal India Limited has adopted State-of-the-Art technology through high capacity Excavators, Dumpers and Surface Miners. viii. SCCL is expediting the activities to ground new 8 mines.

(d)&(e): Being an affordable source of energy with substantial reserve, coal is going to stay as major source of energy in the foreseeable future. Despite push for renewables, country will require base load capacity of coal-based generation for stability and also for energy security. India has committed to clean energy; the pace of transition to cleaner energy sources in India is to be viewed in the light of national circumstances, and principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, the transfer of climate finance and low cost climate technologies.

Q. No. 1210. NEW COAL-FIRED PLANTS

09.02.2023

SHRI MANOJ KOTAK: SHRIMATI RAKSHA

NIKHIL KHADSE:

Will the Minister of POWER be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government proposes to build new coal-fired plants because of the lower generation cost to meet the increasing demand of power;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) the details of the locations fixed for establishing the new Coal-fired thermal power generation plants;

(d) whether the Government proposes to increase the capacity of power generation of the already existing plants and if so, the details thereof; and

(e) whether the Government proposes to take over the State owned thermal plants to enhance the power generation capacity and if so, the details thereof?

Answer

THE MINISTER OF POWER AND NEW & RENEWABLE ENERGY

(SHRI R.K. SINGH)

(a) to (d) : As per Section 7 of the Electricity Act, 2003, "any generating company may establish, operate and maintain a generating station without obtaining a license/permission under this Act, if it complies with the technical standards relating to connectivity with the grid. Accordingly, sanction of the Government is not required for setting up of thermal power projects”. Central Electricity Authority monitors capacity addition of power plants. 8 Number of Central Sector thermal power projects having capacity of 12580 Megawatt (MW) and 11 number of State Sector thermal power projects having capacity of 13660 MW are under construction to increase the capacity of thermal power generation in the country. Details of location of these plants are at Annexure.

(e) : Ministry of Power has no proposal to take over the state owned thermal plants to enhance the power generation capacity.

ANNEXURE REFERRED IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1210 ANSWERED IN THE LOK SABHA ON 09.02.2023

List of under construction thermal power projects in India (As on 25-01-2023)

SHRI BRIJLAL: