deepening crisis of darkness

Abhishek Kumar Singh

According to a study, by 2050, the demand for energy in the world will increase three times. In developing countries like India and China, this demand will grow so fast that it will be hard to meet it. For a country like India trying to move fast on the path of development, achieving self-reliance in energy is the biggest need. We have to set up factories, increase production, create jobs for crores of youth. The one need that all these goals point to is energy, that is, electricity. Due to the shortage of coal in the country, the power crisis is deepening. The situation is such that despite the assurances of the Center, no one is ready to believe that due to shortage of coal, most of the areas of the country will not be seen in darkness anytime soon.

For some time now, there have been continuous reports that there has been a shortage of coal in thermal power stations due to increase in demand for electricity manifold during the Corona period and other reasons. It has been said that most of the plants have only a few days of coal left. If this is indeed so, then it will be no less than a setback for the economy returning on track after the pandemic. In this situation, the question will arise in front of the country that how our government has failed to assess the needs of a country with a population of one hundred and forty crores and it has taken measures to deal with the situation by assessing the crisis of essential things like electricity in advance. Why didn’t

But there are two basic questions here. First of all, how much electricity is being generated from coal in the country and why the option of generating electricity from coal causing terrible pollution has not been prepared till now. And the second question is, why is there a famine in the largest coal producing country in the world? In fact, when it comes to cost and cost, coal-fired thermal power plants take the lead. Electricity from coal is cheap. Assessing the availability of coal, the present crisis presents a worrying future. In many countries of the world including India, thousands of tons more coal is being extracted from underground than twenty-five years ago. But rising energy demands blur the future of coal.

According to a study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the world’s energy demand will triple by 2050. In developing countries like India and China, this demand will grow so fast that it will be hard to meet it. Recently, there were also reports from China that there was a serious power crisis because the existing coal reserves are getting exhausted. Sixteen of China’s thirty-one provinces had power cuts, restaurants and shopping malls closed, and many factories slowed production because they were not getting enough electricity. China is the only country in the world that generates the most electricity from thermal power stations.

The situation in India is no different from that of China. In our country too, electricity from coal accounts for seventy two percent of the total electricity generation. This electricity is given from the consumption of the general public to the industries. There have been many such occasions in the country in the past, when coal mines were flooded during monsoon, often in September-October, due to which coal reserves were depleted and power generation was cut short. But this year the crisis is expected to reach unprecedented levels. There are many reasons as to why this happened. The first reason is the huge increase in the consumption of electricity. It is being told that after the removal of epidemic restrictions, there has been an increase in the industry and the demand for electricity has increased.

Apart from this, the demand for domestic electricity has also increased because most of the people are still working from homes, hence the consumption of air conditioners and other appliances has increased. The figures show that in August this year, the consumption of electricity was one hundred and twenty four billion units, while two years ago i.e. in August 2019 before the pandemic, this consumption was one hundred and six billion units. This increase of about 20 percent in the demand of electricity has created a crisis of supply cut. The government has another argument. According to the central government, two crore eighty lakh houses of the country were given electricity connections under the ‘Saubhagya’ program during the same period. Although only one electric bulb was installed in these crores of houses in this program, but most of these families also started using fans, coolers, TVs etc. Not only this, it is now being estimated that this process of adding new consumers will continue even further, this will put additional pressure on the power plants.

Since thermal power stations are completely dependent on coal and the supply of coal is affected due to various reasons, the tussle between the power from this black gold and its price may continue. It is to be known that the quantity of coal coming out of the mines or imported from outside keeps on fluctuating according to the supply. During monsoon rains, the supply gets cut short due to water logging in the mines. Apart from this, even though our country has the fourth largest coal reserves in the world, but to meet the requirement, we have to import coal from abroad. India is the largest importer of coal after China.

There is also a problem that the coal from indigenous mines is of poor quality, which on burning produces less energy, and more pollution and carbon emissions in the form of smoke. Therefore, despite efforts to reduce imports, it is increasing. Here the problem came in that the deteriorating relations with China became a hindrance in the way of imported Australian coal. It is claimed that more than two million tonnes of Australian coal from India has been stuck in the port of China for months. Cement and steel makers in our country import good quality Australian coal at affordable rates. Since they did not get this coal, they met their requirement from the coal being given to the power plants. This has reduced fuel for power plants that generate electricity.

In fact, the only conclusion that the study of the potential of all sources of energy and their positive and negative aspects comes to a conclusion is that in the future, the sun will do us good. Progress has also been made in the direction of installing windmills. But in spite of all the advantages, these options have not become very popular in the world yet. In such a situation, electricity from coal can remain the most essential part of our energy for the next few years. It is, therefore, appropriate that the obstacles in its path should be removed and concerted efforts should be made to ensure the supply of good quality coal.