Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi announced on Wednesday that preparations are in the works to boost coal reserves at thermal power plants from 24 million tonnes (mt) to 40 mt by March 2023. As of Tuesday, coal reserves at coal-fired power plants stood at 24.6 mt, according to the National Power Portal.
“Our coal inventories are 24 mt as of the first week of October, and our objective is to keep at least 40 mt of stock by March 31, 2023,” Joshi told reporters on the sidelines of an MoU signing event for setting up coal-to-chemical facilities via surface coal gasification. He stated that the Ministry will make a judgement on the non-power sector within a week.
“Coal India produced 622 mt last year (FY22). It will be 700 mt this year (FY23). The remaining efforts (from other mining PSUs) will provide us with additional production of around 200mt. As a result, we will manufacture 900 mt in FY23. We will continue to increase it in the future. “By FY26, we will have reached our yearly production objective of 1 billion tonnes,” Joshi added.
Meanwhile, Coal India (CIL) signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) for coal gasification projects with five key PSUs on Wednesday. CIL has signed three different Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL), Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL), and GAIL to establish four large-scale coal-to-chemical projects using surface coal gasification (India).
The total anticipated cost of the projects is 35,000 crore. Surface coal gasification (SCG) projects are being proposed for West Bengal, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu. The projects will also result in job creation, with around 1,200 direct jobs and over 20,000 indirect job possibilities. The Ministry is accelerating coal consumption and aims to accomplish 100 million tonnes of coal gasification by 2030. It has also made steps to allocate 6,000 crores to Central Public Sector Enterprises by promoting the construction of five coal gasification projects. Joshi stated.
