Coal India Limited, the country's largest coal miner, plans to increase production capacity to meet growing domestic demand for the fuel, the company's chairman said.
India has burned more coal for power generation in recent months as electricity demand hit records, with output from coal-fired plants rising faster than renewable sources for the first time since 2019.
The company plans to start operations at five new mines with a combined annual capacity of 14.3 million tonnes. It will also expand capacity at 16 existing mines, Chairman P.M. Prasad said, up more than 7% from the current year.
The state-owned coal producer aims to produce a record 838 million tonnes of coal in the fiscal year starting April 1, Prasad said.
Coal India is on track to exceed its production target for the second consecutive year, after missing goals for 16 straight years previously. Its profits and share price have surged since early 2023.
According to a previous report from the company, its production reached 610.3 million tonnes for the first 10 months of the current fiscal, a 10.8% rise against the same period last year. Based on this, its annualized production could be 732.4 million tonnes.
The higher output is expected to boost coal inventories at power plants running on domestic coal to 40 million tonnes by the end of March, up 16.1% from a year earlier, Prasad said.
The miner is also increasing private sector involvement in coal mining and looking to diversify into renewable energy.
Coal still accounts for over half of India's total energy needs, though that proportion has been falling in recent years due to promotion of solar, wind and other cleaner sources.
(Writing by Alex Guo Editing by Harry Huo)
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