Coal & Power Generation in India

Your interest seems to be on the initiatives in India, about leaving coal in the ground, and linking it to initiatives around coal for generation of power. I am afraid that there are no such initiatives in practice at present and Planning Commission of India is thinking in that direction.The Public Sector Undertaking " Coal India Limited " has the monopoly in Coal Mining

I would like to brief you about the ground realities of Coal Extraction and its usage for Power Generation in India.

a) About 50% of commercial energy is provided by coal and 75% of domestic coal production
is used for power generation.The domestic coal has about 40% Ash content and India may
need about 2 Billion tons of coal per annum to meet the power generation requirements at

the current rate. At present 80% of Industrial pollution is contributed by coal based thermal

power plants. I need not mention about their inherent environmental, and social problems,

the economic costs of which are not taken into account,while working out the cost of coal
based thermal power, giving a misleading picture about its actual cost.

b) The outdated coal extraction technology (open cast mining) and its transportation (by road)
leaves very high Carbon Footprints.

c) The existing coal based thermal power plants operate at gross efficiency of 30 to 34 %,
because of very low thermal efficiency of the boilers and other outdated technologies further
adding to Carbon Footprints. The Super Critical Technology Boilers now being adopted may
boost the efficiency to around 40%

d) The use of Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) technology for power generation
may be lesser of the evils

e) The extraction of Coal Bed Methane, before and during coal mining may one initiative

f) The new Coal Extraction technology through Insitue gasification may be another option

Conclusion

The present method of coal extraction, transportation and usage is Dirty and "Clean Coal
Technology" appears to be a myth.The Energy Efficiency together with Renewable Sources of Energy is the cheapest , fastest and Eco-Friendly way of ensuring Sustainable Energy Security.

Nuclear Power is neither Renewable, nor Cheap, nor Clean and Safe. taking the entire
Nuclear Fuel Life Cycle into consideration, it is more carbon intensive.

The Electrical Power is only a by-product of Nuclear Power Reactor and the actual product is Deadly Nuclear Waste lasting for millions of years.

Nuclear Power is Not the Answer to Coal.
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