New Delhi: India has almost doubled its planned coal mining capacity from its current level to become the leading contributor to the world’s pipeline of proposed coal projects as per a report by Global Energy Monitor.
The proposed of the coal mining capacity in India has been rose to 638 million metric tons per year (mtpa) from 329 mtpa last year. This will going to increase accounted for almost all of the growth in the global coal project pipeline, which rose 11% to 2,521 mtpa.
With the aim to boost the domestic coal requirement with the rising demand for electrical energy, the rise is welcome by India. Though India has come a long way in installing renewable power like solar and wind energy, coal is still a major contributor to the nation’s energy requirements.
The majority of the proposed new coal mining capacity is proposed in the eastern state of Odhisha and Jharkhand some of the principal coal producing regions of India. The government has set a target to produce nearly 1.15 billion metric tons in 2025/26 and has targeted itself to reach the production capacity of 1.5 billion metric tons by 2030.
But as the coal production grows, the world energy sector is turning towards the cleaner energy sources. The International Energy Agency (IEA) going to predicts that the global coal consumption will going to stay flat until 2030. The report also stated that the wind and solar energy produced more power in the world than coal, for the first time, in 2025.
Also, in case of lower coal demand in India than expected, the report said that planned mining capacity would pose threat to producers. Globally, new coal mining capacity has decreased by almost 40% in 2025, despite the planned projects, which is largely due to the decrease in new capacity in China and Australia.
The development of coal energy in India is an example of the problem areas that will need to be addressed in the future, such as balancing energy’s need with the push to make use of cleaner energy sources. The country is relying on coal for economic growth and electricity needs while renewable energy is increasing rapidly.
