Central PSUs in the coal ministry, in association with the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE), have targeted 12 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030.
A government release said that the Union ministries of coal and new & renewable energy have decided to work together for promotion of green energy. The ultimate objective of this collaboration would be to help Central PSUs in the coal ministry to attain 12 GW of RE capacity by 2030. Currently, these PSUs have together installed 1,600 mw (1.6 GW) of solar power while work on solar projects worth 500 mw is underway.
The collaboration
During a recent secretary-level joint meeting between the two ministries, it was decided that MNRE will provide technical, policy & capacity building support while Ministry of Coal will provide land, capital and undertake implementation of solar energy, green hydrogen and other renewable energy projects.
MNRE will also support the coal ministry and its CPSUs with capacity-building training of engineers, technicians and other functionaries through National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE). Suitable knowledge partnership through IIT Roorkee, Solar Energy Corporation of India and other resource agencies associated with MNRE shall also be provided.
Plan of Action
Pumped storage: Coal companies have “de-coaled” and surplus land masses and such land can be offered for setting up of green hydrogen projects by private investors. Coal CPSUs also have de-coaled land mass in the open cast mines where there is naturally available water storage reservoir and head of average 100m height. By construction of top reservoir, such de-coaled mines can be converted into pump storage projects. It was decided to work faster to set up such projects.
Solar power: Coal CPSUs have huge land mass in the form of overburden dumps which can be put to use for setting up of the solar projects. Therefore, about 85 residential colonies across coal bearing areas with a housing stock of about 50,000 houses. It was decided to undertake full assessment and to cover all the government buildings and houses with roof top solar in mission mode.
Green hydrogen: The coal ministry Coal is also in the process of identification of about 10 patches of land of more than 300 acres each so as to offer to private investors for setting up of green hydrogen projects under the Government of India’s Green Hydrogen Policy.
Coal CPSUs
Central public sector undertakings in the Union ministry of coal include Coal India Ltd, NLC India Ltd (formerly Neyveli Lignite Corporation) and Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL). Coal India Ltd, in turn, operates through seven subsidiaries – Eastern Coalfields Ltd (ECL), Bharat Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL), Central Coalfields Ltd (CCL), Western Coalfields Ltd (WCL), South Eastern Coalfields Ltd (SECL), Northern Coalfields Ltd (NCL) and Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL).
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