Australian Clean Coal Technologies for Affordable and Clean Power in India

Australian Clean Coal Technologies for Affordable and Clean Power in India


In order to realize the vision of the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to provide 24X7 affordable power for all, Shri Piyush Goyal Union Minister of State(IC) for Coal, Power and New and Renewable Energy conducted a roundtable on Efficient Coal Mining and Clean coal technologies at Brisbane, Australia today. The Roundtable was attended by officials of the Ministry of Coal, major coal companies of India namely, CIL, CMPDIL, NTPC etc. and major Australian companies such as Glencore, Rio Tinto, Geo Gas, Carbon Energy, E&Y, Ground Probe and Queensland Resources Council as well as Government organizations such as Trade and Investment Queensland.

During the roundtable extensive discussions were held over efficient mining practices, exploration, mining technologies for opencast as well as underground, reclamation and rehabilitation of mined out areas, Mine safety, Clean Coal Technologies and Coal beneficiation etc. An over view of India’s coal sector was presented highlighting the status and challenges which was followed by the presentations by CIL and CMPDIL covering the above mentioned areas.

Australian companies presented their capabilities in different areas and highlighted the projects they are engaged in particularly Clean Coal Technologies (CCTs) viz Coal Bed Methane (CBM), Coal Mine Methane (CMM), Underground Coal Gasification (UCG), safety improvement, reclamation of mined out areas etc.

Shri Piyush Goyal highlighted the vision and efforts of the Prime Minister towards energy security for India and mentioned that in view of the proposed enhancement of coal production in the next five years India is focusing on technological development, modernization, safety improvement and skill development. In addition to coal mining there was also a focus on clean coal technologies, including coal washing, coal bed methane development and underground coal gasification.

Post the cancellation of 204 coal blocks by the Hon’ble Supreme Court, India has auctioned 31 Coal Mines and allotted 42 Coal Mines to Central/State Government Companies for captive use. Taking the process forward and also to augment availability of domestic coal thereby reducing dependence on imported coal, the Government has finalised the methodology of allocation of coal mines for commercial mining to Central/State PSUs. Many of these blocks can explore usage of Australian clean coal technologies thus helping reduce emissions while also helping reduce cost of production thus helping meet the aim of affordable power for all.

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India-Australia Collaboration in Mining Skill Development for Labour Safety, Health and Efficiency

Australia to Support Sports Training for Building Future Olympians from India

Traditional Indian Sports Like Kabaddi and Kho Kho to be Promoted in Australia

Shri Piyush Goyal Union Minister of State (IC) for Coal, Power and New and Renewable Energy held an industry and academia roundtable on Skill development and initiated collaboration Queensland government’s centre for virtual mining SIMTARS (Safety in Mines Testing and Research Station). Shri Goyal is co-chairing 3rd India-Australia energy security dialogue in Brisbane, Australia. Shri Piyush Goyal highlighted the significant opportunities for skill development in India. He also talked about Prime Minister’s vision of affordable energy access for all and consequent doubling of output of Coal India itself by 2020 on the occasion. Shri Goyal said that current, skill development engagement with Australia was at a scale of 20 people per year which will be scaled up to thousands through combination of setup of Indian centres, e-learning as well as on-site training. This will include leadership training as well as training on mine operations and safety.

Virtual mining training was showcased at SIMTARS which included labour safety, mine planning and refinery operations. Such training centres can significantly improve productivity while minimizing mine and plant accidents. While the original plan was to setup one Indian centre in collaboration with SIMTARS and ISM Dhanbad, Shri Goyal suggested a larger collaboration with more than six centres in each of the large mining states esp. in East India. This will help the workers in these states to ramp up their skills and fully benefit from the fruits of development. SIMTARS, Coal India Limited and ISM Dhanbad will jointly prepare a roadmap for setup of these centres with a target to setup the first centre within the next year.

Sport was also identified as a key enabler for the health of workers as well as bring significant benefits even at the workplace. Central Coalfields Limited (CCL), a subsidiary of Coal India Limited has committed to setup a sports university in Ranchi and is also upgrading 14 stadiums in the city. CCL will collaborate with sports institutes in Australia with an aim to produce 100 Olympians from India in 10 years. This will help bring the best sports training practices from Australia to India as well as promote traditional Indian sports like Kabaddi and Kho kho back in Australia.

Rio Tinto, Ernst & Young, Queensland Resources Council, TAFE Queensland SkillsTech, Runge Pincock Minarco, University of Queensland, Queensland University of Technology, University of Newcastle as well as Indian representatives from Coal India Limited, ISM Dhanbad, NTPC, Mining Skill Council of National Skill Development Corporation etc. as well as representatives from the Indian industry were present in the roundtable.

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India Exploring Australian Gas Supplies for Clean and Affordable Power

Creation of India-Australia LNG Sub-Working Group for Collaboration

“India Willing to Consider Long Term Fixed Price Contracts for the Supply of Gas”: Shri Piyush Goyal

Shri Piyush Goyal Union Minister of State(IC) for Coal, Power and New and Renewable Energy has said that the Government of India is willing to consider long term fixed price contracts for the supply of gas which will enable power producer to enter into a power supply contract at an affordable price. Shri Goyal was addressing a roundtable in Brisbane, Australia today on the business opportunities for LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) and Coal Bed Methane. Shri Goyal further stated that additionally, opportunities to control the entire value chain right from gas production, liquefaction, shipping, re-gasification and power generation can be evaluated at the current historic low prices of many of these activities. The Minister is leading a delegation for the 3rd India-Australia Energy Security dialogue in Australia.

Shri Piyush Goyal highlighted that India is running one of the world’s largest renewable energy programme which aims to increase the capacity 5 times to 175 GW over the next seven years. This will require gas based plants which can act as spinning reserve and supply power during deficit times of day (like evenings) when renewable energy production reduces while stabilizing the grid. He also stressed that since coal based power is available in India at less than 5 cents per unit, the LNG providers should consider supplying gas to India at a price that is comparable.

Pointing out that India is the fourth largest energy consumer in the world Shri A.K. Jana, Executive Director, GAIL stated that India has also developed sufficient infrastructure in pipeline transportation, regasification facilities as well as end consumers facilities such as gas based power plants. These facilities enable the consumption of around 300 MMSCMD, whereas the present consumption is less than 50% of the same. This provides good opportunities to countries which have a surplus of Natural Gas provided it is available at affordable prices.

In order to explore the opportunities to affordably supply Australian LNG to India, an LNG sub-group has been created under the joint leadership of a Joint Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and a senior Australian official. They will be further supported by an operating team as well as representatives from NTPC, GAIL, Petronet LNG and shipping companies. The sub-group will create a roadmap for the collaboration over the next two months.

The Australian Companies highlighted how technologies have been highlighted to reduce cost of producing natural gas and clear shipping routes between Australia and India provide ample opportunities to provide LNG to India at competitive rates. Additionally, with large increase in coal exploration and production in India, Australian companies can provide Coal Bed Methane (CBM) technologies to India.

With Australian collaboration, India aims to meet its objective to providing affordable and clean energy for all. The collaboration on LNG and CBM is a big outcome focused step towards achieving this objective.

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245 Villages Electrified Last Week Under DDUGJY

245 villages have been electrified across the country during last week (from 1st to 7th February 2016) under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojna (DDUGJY). Out of these electrified villages, 82 villages belong to Assam, 77 in Odisha ,  69 in Jharkhand, 13 to Chhattisgarh and 2 each in  Tripura and  Madhya Pradesh. The progress of ongoing electrification process can be tracked on http://garv.gov.in/dashboard

An update on ongoing electrification process

In view of the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi’s address to nation, on Independence Day, Government of India has decided to electrify remaining 18,452 unelectrified villages within 1000 days i.e. by 01st May, 2018.  The project has been taken on mission mode and strategy for electrification consists of squeezing the implementation schedule to 12 months and alsodividing village electrification process in 12 Stage milestones with defined timelines for monitoring.

During 2015-16, 5027 villages have been electrified till date. Out of remaining 13,425 villages, 10,487 villages are to be electrified through grid, 1997 villages are to be electrified through off- grid where grid solutions are out of reach due to geographical barriers and 941 villages are to be electrified by State Govt own. Total 1654 villages were electrified during April 2015 to 14th Aug 2015 and after taking initiative by Government of India for taking it on mission mode, 3373 additional villages have been electrified from 15th August 2015 to 7th February.   In order to expedite the progress further, a close monitoring is being done through Gram Vidyut Abhiyanta (GVA) and various actions are also being taken on regular basis  likereviewing the progress on monthly basis during the RPM meeting, sharing of list of villages which are at the stage of under energisation with the state Discom, identifying the villages where milestone progress are delayed.