Why A Coal-Based Energy Strategy for India?
India relies heavily on its coal reserves. Currently, coal meets more than 60 percent of India’s commercial energy needs. Until the late 1960s, India met its energy needs predominantly through oil imports. After the steep increase in international oil prices during the early 1970s made indigenously produced coal more economically attractive than imported oil, the government decided to make coal-based thermal power generation the backbone of India’s energy economy. Indigenous coal is likely to remain the most stable and least-cost option for the bulk of India’s energy needs for the foreseeable future because: • India’s coal reserves are large enough to meet the current level of demand for the next 250 years, while the reserves of other indigenous fossil energy resources are limited (oil to 15 years and natural gas to 18 years). • The development of large-scale energy imports is limited by the foreign reserve constraint and infrastructure bottlenecks. • The development of hydroelectric p
