Coal in India

competitive. As India’s economy develops, and the size of the manufacturingsector expands, growth in India’s energy consumption is likely to accelerate.Energy and electricityWhile the role of government-owned enterprises in India’s energy sectorhas declined after a series of market reforms over the past two decades,central and state governments continue to exercise pervasive influence onit via policy settings and regulations. Historically, India’s energy policy hasbeen dominated by three major objectives: energy access, energy security,and reducing environmental impacts (through the deployment of renewableand energy efficient technologies). While such objectives are by no meansunique, their context and implementation have taken on a uniquely Indianflavour.It is estimated that around a quarter of India’s population, around 300 millionpeople, do not have access to electricity. This is clearly a major barrier toeconomic and social progress, and as such providing universal access hasbeen a major priority for policy-makers. The Modi Government is progressingwith plans to ensure adequate electricity supply, while acknowledging thatin the short to medium term this may not be a continuous high quality 24/7service, nor one based on grid interconnection.It is estimated that around aquarter of India’s population,around 300 million people,do not have access toelectricity.India has employed a series of Five Year Plans (FYP) to guide economicdevelopment (box 4). In the energy area, India’s objectives in the FYPs havetended to be under-fulfilled. For example, during the period of the EleventhFYP, ending in 2012, India’s electricity capacity increased by 55 gigawatts.While an impressive increase in capacity, this was only around 70 per centof the targeted 80 gigawatts. The current Twelfth FYP, which is scheduledto end in 2017, has a number of new features that differ from previousFYPs. It includes plans for greater participation by the private sector basedon the development of several very large 4000 megawatt coal-fired powerplants. These projects will use more efficient supercritical technology thatwill generally require higher-quality imported coal. The first of these projects,Mundra, was developed by Tata Power in Gujurat and has been in operationsince 2012. Despite the use of advanced technology, the plants are still notoptimised as they are configured to run on low-energy coal imported fromthe company’s Indonesian mines (Tata Power has stake in PT Kaltim PrimaCoal and PT Arutmin Indonesia) where it can secure coal at a low price(Kumar 2014).In order for India to achieve increased electricity access, while meetingenvironmental goals, the wider roll-out of supercritical technology or betteris essential. While more advanced technology is being introduced, progresshas been slow. India’s programmes to ensure that all new plants haveefficiencies consistent with supercritical or ultra-supercritical technologyare not expected to become effective until 2017 (IEA 2015). To this effect,around half of the coal-fired generation capacity likely to be commissionedduring the Twelfth FYP is expected to be based on supercritical technology.In order for India to achieveincreased electricity access,while meeting environmentalgoals, the wider roll-out ofsupercritical technology orbetter is essential.MODI GOVERNMENT POLICIES. REFORMS AND IMPACTS57