While delivering the keynote address, during Seminar on Power & Coal, during the Make in India Week in Mumbai, Mr Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (I/C), Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy, shared an insightful perspective regarding the positive momentum that has been created in these two sectors. With improved policy environment, India has become surplus in power and coal and this can be an enabler for Make in India scaling new heights of success. There is going to be thrust on expanding power generation and economies of scale, which presents huge investment opportunities amounting to nearly US $ 2.3 trillion.
He cited examples of government’s initiatives like Uday; rural electrification, coal swapping, etc, which are steps in the direction of ensuring that the consumer is the beneficiary. Further, Mr Goyal, said that there is an urgent need to maintain a fine balance with the nuances pertaining to climate change.
Mr Piotr Glinski, Deputy Prime Minister of Poland, expressed conviction regarding the growth prospects of Indian economy. Since both India and Poland are coal-rich countries, Mr Glinsk proposed that both the countries should sign new bilateral co-operation agreements and also invited Indian students to enroll for Power and Coal courses in Poland. Also, India can derive benefit from Poland’s competitive advantage in technological aspect of waste management.
Highlighting the Indian government’s recent initiatives, Mr B N Sharma, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Power, informed that the year 2014-15 had witnessed an unprecedented generation capacity, accompanied by peak shortage of energy reducing substantially. Mr Sharma said that government is working on full swing towards 24*7 mission, and smart grids.
Mr M K Goel, Chairman & Managing Director, Power Finance Corporation, confirming his organization’s commitment for providing reliable power mentioned that Power Finance Corporation is fully committed to meet funding requirements of investors. According to him, ensuring reliable and sustainable power supply and following bottom-up approach is of prime importance.
Lauding the overall policy framework, and referring to NTPC’s initiatives in this sector which are in sync with government’s objectives, Mr Gurdeep Singh, Chairman & Managing Director, NTPC Ltd, expressed that they are committed to the cause of providing 24*7 supply of power to discoms and consumers.
Mr I S Jha, Chairman & Managing Director, Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd, emphasising the transmission aspect suggested the development of energy corridors to integrate elements of new energy.
Earlier, Mr Anil Sardana, Chairman, CII National Committee on Power and CEO and Managing Director, Tata Power Company Ltd., while delivering welcome remarks discussed the institutional reforms which are geared in the direction of improving last mile connectivity and efficiency. These are some of the steps required towards achieving the vision of 24*7 power supply.
Addressing the session “India’s Coal Story: Crises, Challenges, Reforms and Opportunities” Mr Anil Swarup, Secretary, Ministry of Coal, empathized that coal sector has come a long way and is now positioned as one of the emerging potential sectors. In his view, identification of problem is a crucial aspect. Besides, he urged the stakeholders to understand that there exists clear line of distinction between both the sectors namely power and coal, and both the terms should not be used interchangeably.
Mr Vivek Bhardwaj, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Coal, gave a presentation on “The Coal Story- Crisis, Challenges, Reforms and Opportunity”, and said that opportunities which lie ahead in coal sector are Mine Developer Operator (MDO); Underground Coal Gasification (UCG); Coal Bed Methane (CBM); and Mining for sale of coal by Private Companies.
Earlier, Mr Rajiv Mishra, Co-Chair, CII National Committee on Power and Managing Director, CLP India, an overview on how India’s coal sector has evolved and shared its success story.
Mumbai
15th February 2016