Government Report Highlights Reliance on Coal for Energy Needs
India's energy demand is growing rapidly, yet the supply remains heavily reliant on coal, which made up nearly 79% of the total energy mix in 2023-2024, according to the Energy Statistics 2025 report released on Saturday.
Despite a surge in renewable energy installations, coal production increased by 11.71% in 2023-24, reaching 997.83 million tonnes, up from 893.19 million tonnes the previous year, according to a report released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
“In the context of rapidly growing economies, especially in densely populated regions like Asia, there is an urgent need to shift towards cleaner energy sources. Coal has underpinned the expansion of electricity generation and industry and remains the largest single fuel in the energy mix," the report said.
According to official projections, India is expected to contribute to a quarter of global energy demand over the next two decades. While the energy sector's share of global emissions has decreased from 59.74% in 2014 to 56.53% in 2020, the report also highlighted trends in petroleum production. Among petroleum products, high-speed diesel emerged as the dominant fuel, accounting for 42% of total production, followed by petrol at 16%, the report indicated.
In the past decade, per capita energy consumption in the world’s fifth-largest economy has surged by 23%, rising from 22,434 megajoules per person in 2014-15 to 27,574 mj/person in 2023-24, reflecting a significant increase in demand. India is now the world’s third-largest consumer of oil and LPG, the fourth-largest importer of LNG, and the fourth-largest refiner.
The report showed that renewable energy resources grew by 11.15% from 2022-23 to 2023-24. However, this increase is insufficient to meet the country's rising energy demand driven by economic growth, a growing population, and extreme weather events.
.gif)
.jpeg)
leave your comment