Union Minister of Coal, Mines & Parliamentary Affairs Shri Pralhad Joshi said that Ministry of Coal has allowed concession of 50% in revenue share for coal gasification. Speaking at an Investors meet in Mumbai, Union Minister Shri Pralhad Joshi also pitched for options like manufacturing Hydrogen from Coal to help India become energy independent. Earlier during the day Shri Joshi launched the closed/discontinued mines of Coal India Ltd. on revenue sharing model, under which, world’s largest coal miner Coal India Ltd. (CIL) will offer its 20 closed/discontinued underground coal mines to the private sector to reopen and bring into production on revenue sharing model. An Investors’ Meet ‘Coal Gasification – Way Forward’ in Mumbai was organized by Coal India and FICCI to sensitize the private sector about the offer.
The Investor Meet was attended by key stakeholders like BHEL, Hindalco, Adani, JSPL, Reliance Industries, Tata Consulting Engineers Ltd, Ultra Tech Cement, Vedanta and other leading industry players.
The closed/discontinued underground coal mines are spread over five Subsidiaries of CIL, namely ECL, BCCL, CCL, SECL and WCL.
Addressing the investors at the event, Shri Pralhad Joshi said that the target of Coal Ministry is to minimize the import of thermal coal and to make the country Aatma nirbhar in the sector. Showcasing the opportunities to the investors present at the session, he said that ‘Not long ago, people used to say the need for coal is going to reduce but we are currently witnessing surge in coal requirements’. He added ‘Extractable reserve in the closed/discontinued coal mines is around 380 million tonnes, 30-40 million tonnes of coal can be easily extracted from the mines.’ He further said ‘the continuation of mining activities will help in increasing coal supply to TPPs while creating employment opportunities for local people.
Minister of State for Coal, Mines & Railways Shri Raosaheb Patil Danve said that India has the 5th largest reserve of coal in the world and Government aims to increase domestic coal production to 1.2 billion metric tonnes by FY 23-24 and Coal Gasification of upto 100 million tonne coal by 2030. This will generate jobs in both technical and non-technical sector while deploying latest mining technology, robust systems and processes.
Coal gasification is considered as cleaner option compared to burning of coal. Gasification facilitates utilization of the chemical properties of coal. Union Minister Shri Pralhad Joshi encouraged the industry players to think about ‘coal to Hydrogen’. During the event Shri Joshi launched a report ‘Roadmap for Coal to Hydrogen’, prepared by Ministry of Coal.
Dr. Anil Kumar Jain, Union Coal Secretary called this a golden opportunity for investors. He said ‘these closed mines have been operated upon which means infrastructure is ready and the entry barriers and financial barriers are minimum’. Experts from Industry, consultants, researchers and stakeholders in coal gasification spoke during the event. Apart from Additional Secretary, Ministry of Coal, M. Nagaraju and Chairman CIL Pramod Agarwal and other industry leaders attended the program.
In order to support coal gasification and availability of coal for the sector on concessional rate, Ministry of Coal has introduced a policy for concessions of 50% in revenue share for commercial auction of coal blocks. If the successful bidder consumes the coal produced either in its own plant(s) or plant of its holding, subsidiary, affiliate, associate for coal gasification or liquefaction or sells the coal for coal gasification or liquefaction on an yearly basis, subject to conditions that at least 10% of scheduled coal production as per approved mining plan for that year shall be consumed or sold for gasification or liquefaction, then the bidder can avail of concessions.
Syn-Gas produced from coal can be used to produce Gaseous Fuels such as Hydrogen (Blue coupled with CCUS), Substitute Natural Gas (SNG or Methane), Di-Methyl Ether (DME), Liquid Fuels such as Methanol, Ethanol, Synthetic diesel and Chemicals like Methanol derivatives, Olefins, Propylene, Mono-Ethylene Glycol (MEG), nitrogenous fertilizers including Ammonia, DRI, Industrial Chemicals along with Power Generation. These products will help move towards self-sufficiency under Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan.
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