Kolkata / New Delhi, Mar 21 (FN Bureau) Coal consumption in India will continue to grow for many years but will peak by 2040, stated Secretary, Ministry of Coal, Amrit Lal Meena here on Thursday. Deliberating during the two-day 17th Indian Coal Markets Conference, Meena said, “ We are now seeing many private sector companies taking up underground (UG) mines in commercial coal mine auctions. For just transition, coal mine closure needed to be handled scientifically to protect livelihood by adopting forestations, setting up solar parks, and pump storage projects. The entire coal transition is a complex process that would need the adoption of global best practices.
“Dr. B. Veera Reddy, Director (Technical), Coal India Ltd, commenting on the growth for new projects and production roadmap said, “By 2025-26, We are planning 1 billion tons of coal production. By 2030, our coal loading will be fully mechanized.” India’s largest B2B e-commerce company Mjunction Services Limited kicked off the conference with the theme “Black to Green: Building a Sustainable Future for Coal” to provide a platform for industry leaders to capture the essence of the transformational changes the coal sector is undergoing. The conference discussed key issues facing the energy and the coal sector in times of global geopolitical crisis and drive towards emission control and decarbonisation. How India’s energy transition journey is evolving and what would be the optimum mix of fossil fuel and renewable energy are some of the key issues that were discussed during the first day of the conference.
There were also dedicated sessions on commercial coal mining and the dynamics of global energy trade. Delivering the welcome address, Vinaya Varma, MD & CEO of mjunction Services Limited, said, “Today coal is in demand not only for power generation but for other usages like coal-gasification, steel making, and other purposes. But as we go back to coal to meet the accelerated growth in demand for thermal energy, concerns over carbon emission keep raising their heads. It is in this context; that the theme of this year’s conference has been chosen.” Varma said, “mjunction has been appointed as the exclusive service provider of CIL for conducting the Linkage e-auctions, and it has launched a completely revamped platform for CIL on 28th December 2023.”