BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec.27
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
India’s coal demand set to rise through 2024, Trend reports with reference to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
“Continued expansion of India’s economy is expected during 2022-2024, with annual average GDP growth of 7.4%, fuelled at least partially by coal. We forecast coal consumption to increase at an average annual rate of 3.9%, to reach 1 185 Mt in 2024. As more households get connected to the grid and incomes continue to rise, higher sales of household electrical appliances (and electric vehicles in the near future) will lead to a steady increase in electricity demand. Power demand is also expected to grow in industries such as aluminium, as well as steel and cement production to meet the needs of construction and infrastructure projects,” reads the IEA report.
IEA notes that historically, steel production based on direct reduced iron (commonly known as sponge iron) has been very popular in India.
“For this reason, less than half of India’s steelmaking capacity relies on the blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF) method, contrary to the global average of about 70%. But by fiscal year 2022, the BF-BOF route is expected to be 65% of India’s steelmaking capacity, with significant implications for met coal demand and imports in India’s steel sector. Additionally, the government plans to invest USD 55 billion in coal gasification and liquefaction, targeting 100 Mt of capacity by 2030. India’s first coal gasification-based fertiliser plant at Talcher, to be commissioned by 2023, will have a coal capacity of 3.3 Mt, producing 2 200 t/d of ammonia and 3 850 t/d of urea. The government also plans to implement a Methanol Economy programme with five methanol plants based on high-ash coal.”
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