30 September 2024 : Daily Answer Writing

Q1) Enumerate the major reasons that make the Indian economy heavily reliant on coal. Explain why phasing out coal from our energy basket is difficult.

(150 Words/10 Marks)

ANS

India is the second largest producer of coal and coal fulfils 55% of the country’s energy needs. Country’s reliance on coal is based on its high availability, economic cost and lack of alternatives. Due to its huge socio-economic commitments, India prefers a phase down rather than phase out coal.

Reasons that make the Indian economy heavily reliant on coal:

1. Abundance: India holds 107,727 million tons (MMT) of proven coal reserves as of 2016, which is about 9% of the world’s reserves. This is in contrast to other sources like Uranium for nuclear power.
2. Ease of extraction: Coal can be mined and easily extracted as against the difficulty in energy extraction from various other renewable sources. For example, geothermal vents.
3. Technological Know-how: India has augmented its capacity in thermal energy production since before independence in contrast to lack of knowledge in the new fields like Waste-to-Energy etc.
4. Economical: Coal provides a cheap source of electricity which aides in economic growth and electricity coverage.

However, continued reliance on coal has some negative externalities due to which a section of experts support phase out of coal:

1. Economic:
2. Balance of Payments isn’t in India’s favour as we are the third largest importer of coal in the world.
3. Wastage form thermal power plants are at the scale of about two third units per unit generated.
4. Environmental: The burning of fossil fuels causes release of toxic substances which can either leach into soil or fly as aerosols and particulate matter. This causes the increase of global warming due to the green-house gases.
5. Health: The particulate matter and fly-ash from thermal plants are one of the major reasons behind several deaths due to air pollution according to the WHO. These emissions cause health impacts ranging from pulmonary issues and asthma to fatal non-communicable diseases.
6. Strategic: Coal is a limited non-renewable resource and an alternative is essential for India’s energy security, economic growth and socio-economic development.

Notwithstanding above negative externalities and India’s commitment to ‘net zero emission by 2070’ at COP26, Glasgow, it is difficult to completely phase out coal because:

1. Economic growth and electricity coverage: Cheap and abundant coal is singularly important for India to enhance its electricity coverage to all citizens. India’s need to grow into a developed economy will require economical, reliable energy sources like coal.
2. Cost of shifting to renewable sources: Setting up the infrastructure to maximise on clean energy requires huge investments. India at COP26 has cited a need for 1 trillion USD in climate finance.
3. Socio-economic commitments: India needs to bring millions out of poverty, for which cheap energy produced through coal is indispensable.
4. Livelihood-Industry: Nearly four million people across the country eke out their living from coal industry, abrupt phase out will cause humanitarian crisis for this section of workers.
5. New technology: India lacks the technology to shift to alternative renewable energy sources.

India’s huge dependence on coal as a source of power generation has several implications ranging from health hazards to global warming. However, due to various developmental priorities and huge costs associated with renewables it will be undesirable for India to phase out coal. A gradual shift towards renewable, adopting clean coal technology and a phase down of coal should be the way forward