The energy crisis in Europe and particularly in the UK - after the shortage of truck drivers, who ferry fuel to pumps, due to Brexit and COVID-19 induced pandemic - is now spilling over to the rest of the world.
The latest country facing the energy crunch is India with authorities warning that the country’s power plants are running hazardously low on coal in the wake of a sharp surge in energy demands soon after the economy recovers from pandemic blows.
According to the Union Power Minister Raj Kumar Singh, India had an average of four days’ worth of coal left at the end of September - the lowest in years, down from 13 days at the beginning of August.
Since coal meets around 70% of energy demands of India with a 57% share of its energy mix, the Power Minister, in a latest interview, has warned that the bridging of the fuel gap is still likely to be a “touch and go” affair and that the nation could be handling a supply squeeze for as long as six months.
How did we get here?
India's growing energy crisis has some similarities to China's shortages, where rising demand from factories faced supply constraints due to high coal prices. In India, too, a sharp uptick in power demand post-pandemic coupled with power plants not anticipating the surge and hence leading to supply issues have resulted in the current coal shortage.
Further, an international increase in coal prices have India's power generators having cut back on importing coal in recent months along with the monsoon rains which alike every year flooded the mines and key transport routes ultimately affecting the domestic production of coal.
India's reliance on coal
Despite India being on track to exceed its target of delivering 450GW of renewable energy by the end of the decade, it still continues to expand its coal capacity. India currently has 233 GW of coal plants in operation and a further 34.4 GW under construction. This is not it. Prime minister Narendra Modi has further plans to ramp up domestic coal production to one billion tonnes per year as part of his self-reliant India policy which is evidently seen as a serious threat to the lives and livelihoods of indigenous communities.
Earlier this year, the International Energy Agency had also warned that Modi’s coal expansion plans are “difficult to reconcile with India’s evolving energy needs and environmental priorities.”