India has pushed for solar power. But as billions of people need more energy, coal always gets the call – Associated Press

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in the process of months-long re-election campaign in April this year, when he took to social media to announce an “extraordinary achievement!” and a “historic milestone” for his country: crossing the 1 billion metric tonne mark in coal and lignite production. It was proof, Modi said, of India’s “commitment to ensuring a vibrant coal sector.”

A month later, for the third year in a row, his government ordered several coal-fired power plants to operate at full capacity to meet high electricity demand during the increasingly hot summer months.

Although India has significantly expanded its renewable energy potential in recent years, as electricity demand grows the country still turns to its most reliable energy source: coal.

In the first six months of this year, India had to cope with high energy demands from a growing population and greater cooling needs due to extreme heatpartly due to climate changerelying on coal-fired power plants. This country also plans to add more coal-fired power plants.

India Coal demand increased by almost 10% in 2023or about 105 million metric tons, the largest percentage increase compared with any other country, according to the International Energy Agency. China’s demand rose 6%.

“We know that the Indian government takes its climate commitments seriously,” said Carlos Fernández Alvarez, the lead author of the IEA report. But he acknowledged the “huge need to provide electricity to people” in India, adding: “We don’t believe that India will be a leader in the transition away from coal.”

More than 70% of India’s electricity demand is met still found with coal although renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power are gaining popularity.

India became the world’s most populous country last year of 1.4 billion people. The demand for electricity is expected to increase by at least 6% According to the IEA, annually for the next few years.

Why Coal Still Dominates in India

In India, millions of people are stuck in poverty, but millions more are being lifted out of poverty as the country’s economy grows. And many of them will be able to afford some relief.

“Even if someone buys a fan or an air cooler to make their life a little more comfortable, you’re going to see a lot more electricity needed in the aggregate,” said Charith Konda, an energy analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. He said a 7% increase in annual demand “is the bare minimum” he expects.

With renewable energy sources gaining popularity, Konda said India needs to invest in more batteries to replace coal at night.

Demand for electricity isn’t the only force keeping coal in India. Konda pointed to the millions of jobs in coal mining, including in related sectors like the railways that control the trains used to transport coal. One indicator of coal’s burden: In midsummer 2022, the government canceled nearly 2,000 passenger trains so that freight trains carrying coal could reach power plants more quickly.

What is needed to make clean energy a mainstay in India

Over the past decade, India has increased its renewable energy capacity 25-fold and now has 195 gigawatts of installed wind and solar capacity.

But it needs to grow even faster. Peak electricity demand hit a record 250 gigawatts in May, according to a report by the India Energy and Climate Center at the University of California, Berkeley. That demand could exceed 300 gigawatts in the next three years, the report said, meaning power shortages at night.

The country has established ambitious clean energy goal 500 gigawatts by the end of this decade.

“We saw a couple of years of really good growth in renewables in 2015-16. Since then, it’s kind of plateaued,” said Ashish Fernandes of the Climate Risk Horizons think tank.

Fernandes and other experts say India needs to install at least 50 to 60 gigawatts of clean energy per year to meet growing demand. Over the past two years due to a combination of political decisions, politics and supply chain issues less than 15 gigawatts of wind and solar power were installed per year.

And storage needs to be integrated into the system, said Konda, the energy analyst. India has some less than 4 gigawatts of storage capacity. Last year, the government announced a $452 million plan to support companies installing more devices.

“Battery storage is getting cheaper and is a growing sector globally,” said Fernandes, who added that India needs to invest while prices are low.

The Indian government also said developed countries should provide more support, including financial and technological, to India and other Global South countries working on the clean energy transition.

In Dipka, a mining town in central India where mining has been operating for almost a hundred years, it is hard to imagine life without coal.

“Everything in this region is about coal,” said Ramadhar Yadav, 45, whose family was among the region’s villagers who sold their fertile land to coal companies decades ago and is now one of several hundred people demanding jobs in the coal industry in a legal dispute.

“I am sure that for at least the next 20 years our region, and maybe the whole of India, will be dependent on coal,” he said.

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