
- •Foreword
- •Table of contents
- •1. Executive summary
- •India is making great strides towards affordable, secure and cleaner energy
- •Major energy reforms lead to greater efficiency
- •India is making energy security a priority
- •Significant progress in sustainable development
- •Energy technology and innovation enables “Make in India”
- •Key recommendations
- •2. General energy policy
- •Country overview
- •Major energy supply and demand trends
- •Energy consumption
- •Primary energy supply
- •Energy production and self-sufficiency
- •Political system and energy sector governance
- •Electricity sector
- •Coal sector
- •Oil and natural gas sectors
- •Climate and environment
- •Other ministries
- •Governance of public companies in the energy sector
- •Economy and the energy sector
- •Financial health of the power sector
- •Energy and climate policy
- •Energy taxation and subsidies
- •Goods and Services Tax
- •Subsidies
- •Electricity access
- •Clean cooking
- •The way towards a national energy policy
- •Energy data and statistics in India
- •Assessment
- •A co-ordinated national energy policy
- •Access to electricity and clean cooking
- •Economic efficiency
- •Energy security
- •Sustainability
- •Energy data and statistics
- •Recommendations
- •3. Energy and sustainable development
- •Overview
- •Energy, environment and sustainable development: An integrated policy response in the context of SDGs
- •Ensuring sustainable energy for all: SDG 7
- •Access to electricity and clean cooking: SDG 7.1 progress and outlook
- •Electricity access
- •Clean cooking
- •Renewables: SDG 7.2 progress and outlook
- •Energy efficiency: SDG 7.3
- •Energy and air quality: SDG 3
- •Current status of air pollutants
- •Air quality policy framework
- •Transport sector
- •Power sector
- •Industrial sector
- •The outlook for air quality
- •Energy-related CO2 emissions and carbon intensity: SDG 13
- •Sectoral GHG status and stated policy outlook
- •Energy sector role in GHG mitigation policy
- •Pricing of energy sector externalities
- •Energy sector climate change adaption and resilience
- •Assessment
- •Energy access
- •Energy sector and air quality
- •Energy and climate adaptation and resilience
- •Energy sector cost-effective response to climate change
- •Recommendations
- •4. Energy efficiency
- •Overview
- •Supply and demand trends
- •Energy consumption by sector
- •Industry
- •Residential
- •Services and agriculture
- •Transport
- •Policy framework and institutions
- •Policies and programmes
- •Industry
- •Buildings
- •Appliances and equipment
- •Municipalities
- •Agriculture
- •Transport
- •Assessment
- •Co-ordination, institutional capacity and data
- •Leveraging private-sector investments
- •Industry
- •Buildings
- •Appliances and equipment
- •Municipalities
- •Agriculture
- •Transport
- •Recommendations
- •5. Renewable energy
- •Overview
- •Supply and demand trends
- •Renewable energy in TPES
- •Electricity from renewable energy
- •Institutions
- •Policy and regulation
- •Electricity
- •Utility-scale renewables
- •Rooftop solar PV
- •Offshore wind
- •Off-grid solar PV
- •Bioenergy and waste
- •Barriers to investment in renewable energy projects
- •Transport
- •Industry
- •Assessment
- •Electricity
- •Transport
- •Industry
- •Recommendations
- •6. Energy technology innovation
- •Overview
- •Energy technology RD&D and innovation policies
- •Energy technology RD&D landscape
- •Public-sector RD&D actors
- •Public-sector RD&D priorities and co-ordination
- •Public-sector funding for energy RD&D
- •Private-sector energy RD&D landscape
- •International collaboration
- •Assessment framework
- •Non-financial support and policies
- •Direct and indirect financial support
- •Assessment
- •Strategic planning of energy RD&D activities
- •Inter-ministerial RD&D programme co-ordination
- •MI RD&D goals
- •Private-sector engagement to spur energy RD&D investment
- •Leadership in energy RD&D international collaboration
- •Recommendations
- •7. Electricity
- •Overview
- •Supply and demand trends
- •Electricity generation
- •Imports and exports
- •Consumption
- •Electricity access
- •Institutions
- •Market structure
- •Transmission
- •Captive producers
- •System operation
- •Power market reforms
- •Assessment framework
- •A. India’s power system transformation
- •Policies for decarbonisation
- •The role of nuclear power
- •B. Electricity markets to maximise investments and consumer outcomes
- •The wholesale market
- •Wholesale market reforms
- •Investment in the power sector
- •Power assets under financial stress
- •The retail markets in India
- •Retail market rules and regulations
- •Metering and smart meters
- •The financial health of the DISCOMs
- •Tariff reforms
- •Electricity retail pricing
- •C. Ensure power system security
- •Reliability
- •Generation adequacy
- •Network adequacy
- •Quality of supply
- •Flexibility of the power system
- •Assessment
- •Recommendations
- •8. System integration of variable renewable energy
- •Overview
- •Supply and demand trends
- •Penetration of VRE at the state level
- •India’s system integration challenges
- •General considerations for system integration
- •Different timescales of system flexibility requirements
- •System operation and electricity markets
- •System operation – generation dispatch
- •System operation – forecasting of wind and solar output
- •Power market design to support system integration of renewables
- •Flexibility resources in India
- •Power plants
- •Thermal plants
- •VRE sources
- •Electricity networks and grid infrastructure
- •Case study – Green Energy Corridors
- •Distributed resources
- •Demand response and retail pricing
- •Storage
- •Battery storage
- •Future sector coupling, hydrogen (ammonia)
- •IEA flexibility analysis – A scenario outlook to 2040
- •Assessment
- •Advanced system operation
- •Improving electricity market design
- •Flexibility resources
- •Recommendations
- •9. Coal
- •Overview
- •Supply and demand
- •Resoures and reserves
- •Domestic production
- •Imports
- •Coal consumption
- •Institutional framework
- •The public sector
- •The private sector
- •Government policies
- •Royalties and levies
- •Commercial mining
- •Coal and railways
- •Coal supply allocation and pricing
- •Coal washing
- •Local air quality policies
- •India’s climate commitments and the role of coal
- •Carbon capture and storage
- •Assessment
- •Recommendations
- •Overview
- •Supply and demand
- •Oil supply
- •Oil demand
- •Oil trade: imports and exports
- •Crude oil imports
- •Oil products imports and exports
- •Institutions
- •Retail market and prices
- •Market structure
- •Pricing
- •Upstream: Exploration and production policies
- •Infrastructure
- •Refineries
- •Ports and pipelines
- •Storage
- •Security of supply
- •Emergency response policy and strategic stocks
- •Demand restraint
- •Assessment
- •Recommendations
- •11. Natural gas
- •Overview
- •Supply and demand
- •Gas production and reserves
- •Institutions
- •Gas infrastructure
- •Gas policy
- •Markets and regulation
- •Upstream
- •Midstream
- •Downstream
- •Security of gas supply
- •Domestic gas production
- •Diversity of the LNG import portfolio
- •Pipeline import options
- •Availability of additional LNG volumes
- •Availability of seasonal storage
- •Assessment
- •Recommendations
- •ANNEX A: Organisations visited
- •ANNEX B: Energy balances and key statistical data
- •ANNEX C: Acronyms, abbreviations and units of measure

9. COAL
Today, the Indian coal sector is at a crossroads. On the one hand, the Indian economy is expected to grow considerably in the coming years, and so too are the three largest coalconsuming sectors: electricity generation, iron and steel and cement production. The prospects for the electricity sector are bright, driven by economic development, the increasing number of people with access to electricity and the growing middle class who will expand their use of air conditioners and other appliances. On the other hand, climate commitments made by India (within the framework of the Paris Agreement), air pollution, water stress in some areas and other environmental issues, and the declining costs of renewables, in particular solar photovoltaic (PV), impact the business case of the coal sector at large. The main certainty is that, given its central role in the energy and economy in India, a part of India’s success in the future is linked to the successful and efficient management of the coal sector.
Supply and demand
Resoures and reserves
According to the latest Geological Survey of India of April 2018, India holds proven coal reserves of 148.79 gigatonnes (Gt) and total coal resources2 of 319.02 Gt. The proven lignite reserves amount to 6.54 Gt, while total lignite resources are 45.66 Gt.
Most of the hard coal in India is bituminous coal, with some sub-bituminous reserves. Indian coking coal has a high ash content, is mostly used for thermal purposes and is generally not suitable for the production of metallurgical coke. The regional distribution of reserves mirrors the production profile (see below). Most of hard coal resources are located in seven States: Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Telangana. And lignite resources are concentrated in three states: Tamil Nadu, which accounts for 80% of lignite resources, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
To support exploration of coal and lignite, the GoI plans to spend INR 7 billion (USD 50 million) in 2018/19 and around INR 10 billion (USD 72 million) in 2019/20.
Domestic production
Coal production in India has been increasing over recent years (Figure 9.2). In 2017 coal production totalled 726 Mt, of which 635.6 Mt was thermal coal, 47.5 Mt lignite and 40.9 Mt coking coal.
Almost 94% of the production is open pit, with the balance mined in underground mines. Production costs in India are INR 1 200/t (USD18/t) on average, lower than in most countries, even adjusted for quality, as the country has low strip ratios.3 Average costs are very much dependent on the performance of CIL, which accounts for 80% of domestic production (with an average cost of INR 1 176/t). However, production growth has not been able to keep up with demand growth, especially since the electricity sector reform of 2003, leading to increasing domestic coal supply shortages and imports (Figure 9.2).
2Resources refers to fields that are potentially valuable, and for which reasonable prospects exist for eventual economic extraction. Mineral reserves are valuable and legally, economically and technically feasible to extract.
3Strip ratio refers to the overburden (m3) removed to extract 1 tonne of coal. India has a ratio below 3 on average.
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9. COAL
Figure 9.2 Coal supply by source, 1973-2017
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800 |
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Production |
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600 |
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IEA 2019. All rights reserved.
Note: Includes hard coal (anthracite and other bituminous coal) and lignite.
Source: IEA (2019), World Energy Balances 2019, www.iea.org/statistics/.
Hard coal production in India is concentrated in four states – Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh – which account for almost 80% of production. Other producing states are Telangana, Maharashtra and West Bengal, with smaller volumes produced also in Uttar Pradesh, Meghalaya and Assam. Jharkhand is the largest producer of coking coal. In 2015, out of 60 Mt of coking coal produced, only 6.1 Mt was sold as washed coking coal for metallurgical purposes.4 High-ash coal, i.e. coal with a low calorific value (CV), is predominant in India, with 70% of domestic supply in the CV range of 3 400-4 600 kilocalories per kilogram (kcal/kg) GAR (gross as received). This is lower quality than the international standards, especially seaborne-traded thermal coal, which is typically in the range of 5 000-6 000 kcal/kg NAR (net as received).5
Lignite production in India (around 47 Mt in 2017) is much smaller than hard coal, and it is produced mostly in three states: more than half in Tamil Nadu and less than one quarter each in Gujarat and Rajasthan.
Imports
To satisfy growing coal demand amid production shortages, imports have been increasing for two decades, reaching 209 Mt in 2017. During the period 2014-16 the push for additional domestic production and new mines, together with some moderation of demand growth, resulted in a temporary decline in imports.
Australia supplies most of India’s metallurgical coal imports (2017). Indonesia and South Africa are the import sources for thermal coal, and Indonesia provides 65% of thermal coal imports and Africa 25% (Figure 9.3). Other major suppliers are the United States, Mozambique, the Russian Federation and Canada.
Imports are not only the result of the consumption–production gap, but also related to other factors. First, the scarcity of low-ash coking coal in India requires imports to produce metallurgic coal for rising iron and steel production. Second, many coal-fired power plants
4Some of the high-ash coking coal has being reclassified as non-coking in recent years and, therefore, coking coal production data need to be properly interpreted.
5This is approximately 5 300-6 300 kcal/kg GAR.
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9. COAL
that are located along the coast (see Table 9.1) are designed to use imported coal and, therefore, the quality of domestic coal is not suitable for those plants. Third, some plants blend domestic and imported coal to achieve a better quality, increase efficiency and reduce pollutant emissions. And fourth, imports are necessary when incremental demand by coal consumers for higher supplies cannot be honoured by CIL due to logistical bottlenecks or price discrepancies.
Figure 9.3 India’s coal imports by source, 2007-17
Thermal coal |
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Metallurgical coal |
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Mt |
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250 |
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60 |
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Australia |
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200 |
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45 |
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Indonesia |
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South Africa |
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150 |
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Canada |
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30 |
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100 |
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United States |
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15 |
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Rest of World |
50 |
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0 |
2017 |
0 |
2009 |
2011 |
2013 |
2015 |
2017 |
IEA 2019. |
2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 |
2007 |
All rights reserved. |
Source: IEA (2018a), Coal 2018.
Coal consumption
Power and heat generation account for over two-thirds of coal consumption (three-quarters in terms of weight), followed by iron and steel production (almost 20%), cement (around 5%), and other industries like fertilisers, pulp and paper, non-ferrous metals and chemicals production, as illustrated in Figure 9.4. In 2017 residential and services coal use was 3.3%.
In 2018 India surpassed Japan as the second-largest steel producer in the world (with total steel production of 106.5 Mt). Around 55% of the steel in India is produced in electric arc furnaces and the remainder in oxygen-blown converters. India is the world’s largest producer of direct reduced iron, also known as sponge iron, accounting for more than onethird of global production (or 30.3 Mt in 2018). India was the third-largest producer of pig iron in the world after the People’s Republic of China (“China”) and Japan, with a total production of 71.5 Mt in 2018.
Power generation, the largest consumer of coal, has various characteristics: India has coastal (31 GW) and inland plants (159 GW), which are usually located close to mines. India has 18 GW of power plants that are designed to only use imported coal (Table 9.1). Power plants with a total capacity of 32 GW use a blend of domestic and imported coal. Plants using only domestic coal have a total capacity of 140 GW.
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9. COAL
Figure 9.4 Coal consumption by sector, 1973-2017
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Power generation |
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800 |
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Other energy* |
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600 |
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Industry |
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400 |
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Other** |
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200 |
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IEA 2019. |
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All rights reserved. |
*Mainly coke ovens and blast furnaces. **Includes agriculture, forestry and fishing.
Notes: Includes hard coal (anthracite and other bituminous coal) and lignite. TPES of coal by consuming sector. Source: IEA (2019), World Energy Balances 2019, www.iea.org/statistics/.
Table 9.1 Plants designed to consume imported coal
Name of plant |
State |
Company |
Capacity |
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(MW) |
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JSW Ratnagiri |
Karnataka |
JSW Energy |
1 200 |
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Mundra TPS |
Gujarat |
Adani Power |
4 620 |
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Mundra UMPP |
Gujarat |
Coastal Gujarat |
4 000 |
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Sikka |
Gujarat |
GSECL |
500 |
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Trombay |
Maharashtra |
Tata Power |
1 250 |
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ITPCL |
Tamil Nadu |
IL&FS |
1 200 |
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Muthiara |
Tamil Nadu |
Coastal Energen |
1 200 |
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Torangallu I |
Karnataka |
JSW Energy |
260 |
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Torangallu-II |
Karnataka |
JSW Energy |
600 |
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Udupi |
Karnataka |
Adani Power |
1 200 |
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Salaya |
Gujarat |
Essar Power Gujarat |
1 200 |
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Thamminapatnam |
Andhra Pradesh |
Meenakshi Energy |
200 |
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Simhapuri |
Andhra Pradesh |
Simhapuri Energy |
600 |
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Total |
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18 030 |
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Note: Assuming 5 500 kcal/kg coal, 38% efficiency and a plant load factor of 70%, these plants require around 45 Mt of coal per year.
The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) is India’s largest coal power generator and one of the largest in the world, with 52 GW of installed coal generation capacity. Utilities owned by the state governments hold another 59 GW, while independent power
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IEA. All rights reserved.