"With coal you can crank the load factor up and down, it is reliable, not dependent on the weather or how you have to dispose the waste as is the case with other alternatives. For large population [with] increasing electricity consumption, coal therefore becomes the first source," an India-based trader said. "We can match commitments to invest into renewables but we cannot just retire coal plants or ignore the point of view of energy security for a developing country."
S&P Global Commodity Insights reported earlier that India aims to add domestic coal production capacity through the approval of new projects and the expansion of those planned for the future. Coal India has also identified 15 projects with an expected annual output capacity of 160 million mt to boost production.
