Coal Secretary Dr. AK Jain has told CNBC TV18 that coal despatch is taking place as usual for now despite the monsoon reaching coal producing areas across India.

Delivering his inaugural address at India Energy Transition Summit 2022, Union Minister for Power and New & Renewable Energy RK Singh said that the ministry's next planning committee will comprise of industry representatives to identify areas of growth across the sector even as he lauded India's fast energy transition rate despite 1/3rd per capita emissions compared to developed nations.

Assuring the industry that states may not try fiddling with PPAs anymore as courts have struck down such plans, he urged the industry to announce dates to go green and ensure that India doesn't fall behind in the race for green hydrogen.

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Government says it is taking steps to enhance coal output

Reiterating that complete decarbonisation isn't possible without huge storage capacities, the minister pointed out that India is already witnessing among the largest bids for power storage across the world.

While he announced that government is planning amendments to the Electricity Act in the Parliament's upcoming monsoon session to increase penalties on companies for missing renewable energy obligations, he maintained that the government intends to give free transmission, open access and a month banking access to the industry to aid production of renewable energy.

Singh said that agreements to start 30k MW of hydel power production in Arunachal Pradesh are on the verge of being signed, while pointing to the need to increase harness of India's hydel power potential from the current 15 percent to 90 percent being tapped by European countries.

Questioning opposition by various NGOs to hydel power facilities, he said that dams have often made their adjoining areas greener, reminding that Haridwar was saved from floods due to the existence of the Tehri dam.

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Union Power Secretary Alok Kumar stressed upon the importance of energy transition to reduce import dependence, while reminding that large expansion of wind and solar power capacities wouldn't have been possible without grid expansion, which will continue to remain a focus area for the ministry.

While he maintained that coal will continue to remain as the mainstay of power generation for next 20 years, he pointed to the need for an ability in the system to absorb intermittent power as well as add adequate capacity to meet power demand instead of blaming energy transition.

While the ministry is working for fast implementation of the Green Open Access Rules, the Secretary noted that decentralised application of renewable energy will not only cost less but also burden the grid lesser

The Coal Secretary added that 6 to 7 lakh tonnes of coal is being displaced every day due to renewable energy, while hinting at a complete transition from IC engines in two-wheelers in the next few years.

He pointed out that only 17 percent of final energy consumption is in the form of electricity, and focus should be on sustainable energy sources for the rest 83 percent as he referred to discussions with the steel industry where a focus on green energy has prompted companies to refrain from building new thermal power plants.

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(Edited by : Anand Singha)