Coal India to open big, new mine this year to fight power crisis
The Hindu
Coal India's record production has been brightspot in efforts to end India's worst power crisis in more than six years.
State-run Coal India will open this year what is expected to become one of the country's biggest coal mines, officials said, as India struggles to keep pace with surging power demand.
Output from the new Siarmal mine in eastern Odisha state would rise gradually, reaching capacity of 50 million tonnes in about five to seven years, Vinayak Jamwal, spokesman for Coal India unit Mahanadi Coalfields (MCL), told Reuters.
Production would initially start in the October to December quarter at an annualised rate of about 2 million to 5 million tonnes, Mr. Jamwal said.
Coal India's record production has been brightspot in efforts to end India's worst power crisis in more than six years, as a heatwave has driven up demand for power and forced the government to reverse a policy on cutting coal imports.
India, which also plans to reopen closed mines to deal with the crisis, has not said how the drive for more coal would hit the country's emissions targets but it has repeated that it plans to install 450 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy by 2030.
India now has total electricity generation capacity of 401 GW, of which 111.4 GW is renewable power.
Jamwal said work was proceeding on infrastructure for Siarmal, an open cast mine built in a partly forested area.