With global protests against fossil fuel growing louder, boosted by the first international conference on transitioning away from fossil fuel use in late April in Santa Marta, Columbia, India is focusing on coal-based projects with less emissions.
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved, in mid-May, a scheme for promotion of surface coal and lignite gasification projects with a financial outlay of Rs 37,500 crore. The technology, despite being a greenhouse gas (GHG)-emitter, is responsible for less emissions than the conventional coal-burning ones.
India holds one of the world’s largest coal reserves, of around 401 billion tonnes, and lignite reserves, around 47 billion tonnes. Coal accounts for over 55% of the country’s energy mix. The continuing dominance of coal, as energy generation fuel, has also been documented in India’s policy framework.
Coal and lignite gasification is a thermo-chemical process that converts solid coal into synthetic gas — syngas. Instead of burning coal directly, the process uses high temperatures, steam and limited oxygen to break down molecular bonds, creating a clean gas mixture, mainly carbon monoxide and hydrogen.
“Gasification still emits carbon dioxide and can have a high overall carbon intensity if unmanaged; but it is better than direct coal burning. It operates at much higher thermal efficiencies and allows for effective Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), which can mitigate up to 90% of emissions compared to uncontrolled direct burning,” an expert said.
Govt push
The newly announced scheme provides financial support of up to 20% of the cost of the plant and machinery, capped at Rs 5,000 crore per project, with disbursements linked to project milestones. “To encourage investments of up to Rs 3 lakh crore, the government has extended the coal linkage tenure up to 30 years for the coal gasification sub-sector and offers a 50% rebate in the revenue share for commercial coal blocks,” reads the government communique.
“This latest push builds upon the 2021 National Coal Gasification Mission and an earlier Rs 8,500 crore incentive package, under which eight projects worth over Rs 6,200 crore are already under implementation,” it adds. State-owned Coal India Limited (CIL) is forming joint ventures with entities like BHEL and GAIL to set up major gasification projects.