Coal Sector | Issues and Solutions

Why in news?
Recently, World Bank has stated that with few exceptional circumstances, it will no longer fund coal projects in developing countries.

Issues in coal sector:

• Supply side:
• Pollution
• High ash content
• Low coking quality
• Coal auction irregularities
• Plants not optimal - not efficient and also degrading environment.
• Delayed clearences - land, forest, envt
• Infrastructure - transport - Rail-road  - Cross subsidisation leading to high freight rates
• Demand side:
• Coal dependence is high - coal based projects cannot be phased out, there are many cheap plants installed and running to capacity and many are under construction.
•  gap in switching from coal based power generation to renewable energy future.
• Low demand - slump in industrial growth, low investments
• Renewable purchase obligations - pressure on non-renewables
• Climate change concerns  + emission targets - low demand

SOLUTIONS:

• Optimal use of coal, this can be ascertained by use of less coal for more output
• Clean coal tech - Coal washing, coal gasification etc.
• Moving from present sub-critical coal power plant to super-critical coal power plant.
• Using super critical plant alone will reduce the coal usage by nearly 15 % .
•  But, cleaner coal in terms of more efficient coal plant will need technological innovation, policy support and financing.
• Power grid also needs balancing; with smart grid in operation we can assume coal to be cleaner.
• India will depend on coal to meet energy requirement, without global support and push for improvement, the result would be suboptimal and more polluting plants.
•  Use by-products - fly ash - bricks, roads etc.
• particulate emission should be minimized by treating it before releasing in atmosphere