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Since 2013, total
primary energy Primary energy (PE) is an energy form found in nature that has not been subjected to any human engineered conversion process. It is energy contained in raw fuels, and other forms of energy, including waste, received as input to a system. Prim ...
consumption in
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
has been the third highest in the world (see
world energy consumption World energy supply and consumption is global production and preparation of fuel, generation of electricity, energy transport, and energy consumption. It is a basic part of economic activity. It includes heat, but not energy from food. This art ...
) after
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
(see
energy in China Ensuring adequate energy supply to sustain economic growth has been a core concern of the Chinese government since 1949. The country is the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and coal in China is a major cause of global warming. How ...
) and
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
(see energy in United States). India is the second-top coal consumer in the year 2017 after China. India ranks third in oil consumption with 22.1
crore A crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes ten million (10,000,000 or 107 in scientific notation) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. It is written as 1,00,00,000 with the local 2,2,3 style of digit group separators (one lakh is eq ...
(221 million) tons in 2017 after United States and China. India is net energy importer to meet nearly 47% of its total primary energy in 2019.


Overview


Coal

Coal and lignite production was 73.1 crore (731 million) tons in the financial year 2019-2020. India was the fourth top
coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...
producer in 2017 with 294.2 Mtoe (7.8% global share). Nearly 80% of total electricity generated (utility and captive) in India is from coal and it is the main source of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions. According to
Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...
the largest coal belt in India is at
Jharia Jharia is a neighbourhood in Dhanbad city in Dhanbad Sadar subdivision of Dhanbad district in Jharkhand state, India. Jharia's economy is heavily dependent on the local coal fields, used to make coke. However, fires in the coal fields hav ...
. Before coal mining Jharia had forests inhabited by tribes. In 1971 the
coal mine Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
s were nationalised.
Bharat Coking Coal Limited Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) is a subsidiary of Coal India Limited which is inturn under the ownership of Ministry of Coal, Government of India, Its headquarters is located at Dhanbad and Kolkata, India. It was incorporated in January, 197 ...
(BCCL) took over Jharia coal mines."The True Cost of Coal"
Greenpeace 27 November 2008 pp. 24–29
India accounts for the world’s greatest concentration of
coal seam fire A coal-seam fire is a burning of an outcrop or underground coal seam. Most coal-seam fires exhibit smouldering combustion, particularly underground coal-seam fires, because of limited atmospheric oxygen availability. Coal-seam fire instances ...
s. Mine area suffers from pollution of air, water and land. As of 2019, coal production was integrated into the Central Government; for example, the
Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...
owned about 75% of
Coal India Limited Coal India Limited (CIL) is an Indian central public sector undertaking under the ownership of the Ministry of Coal, Government of India. It is headquartered at Kolkata. It is the ''largest government-owned-coal-producer'' in the world. It is ...
, which supplied about 84% of India's thermal coal. India imports coking coal as good quality
coking coal Metallurgical coal or coking coal is a grade of coal that can be used to produce good-quality coke. Coke is an essential fuel and reactant in the blast furnace process for primary steelmaking. The demand for metallurgical coal is highly coupled ...
deposits suitable for iron and steel production are not available. In the financial year 2021 -22, India imported nearly 57.16 million tons (90%) against the consumption of 63.74 MT. Sponge iron route using noncoking coal is also followed to produce iron and steel which does not depend on coke or natural gas.


Oil and natural gas

India was the third top crude oil consumer globally (4.8% of the world) with 221 Mt in 2017. India was the second-top net
crude oil Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...
(including crude oil products) importer of 205.3 Mt in 2019. India has 49.72
lakh A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2,2,3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. For e ...
(4.972 million) barrels per day (5.1% of the world) crude oil refining capacity which is ranked 4th globally in 2017.


Liquefied petroleum gas

Nearly 1 crore (10.937 million) tons
Liquefied Petroleum Gas Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG or LP gas) is a fuel gas which contains a flammable mixture of hydrocarbon gases, specifically propane, propylene, butylene, isobutane and n-butane. LPG is used as a fuel gas in heating appliances, cookin ...
(LPG) was consumed during April to September 2019 (six months) in domestic sector mainly for cooking. The number of domestic connections are 274 million (one connection for five people) with a circulation of more than 40 crore (400 million) LPG cylinders whose net aggregate length would form a 2,00,000 km long pipe line which is more than the length of total railway track laid in India. India is second largest consumer of LPG globally. Most of the LPG requirement is imported. Piped city gas supply in India is not yet developed on major scale.


Biomass and charcoal

Biomass Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms bio ...
is a renewable energy source and its use for energy generation is mostly
carbon-neutral fuel Carbon-neutral fuel is fuel which produces no net-greenhouse gas emissions or carbon footprint. In practice, this usually means fuels that are made using carbon dioxide (CO2) as a feedstock. Proposed carbon-neutral fuels can broadly be grouped in ...
. Carbon dioxide is first taken up by plants during photosynthesis, and later released when biomass is burned. Presently, only 20% of house holds in India use biomass and charcoal for cooking purpose as LPG use for cooking purpose is rising rapidly. In addition biomass is also used marginally in commercial cooking, electricity generation, process industries, etc. The total biomass use in India is nearly 177 Mtoe in the year 2013. Substantial surplus crop residue is also burnt in agriculture fields to clear the land for the next crop. Nearly 75 crore (750 million) tons of non edible (by cattle) biomass is available annually in India which can be put to use for higher value addition without CO2 emissions. Huge quantity of imported coal is being used in pulverised coal-fired power stations. Raw biomass is not suitable for use in the pulverised coal mills as they are difficult to
grind A blade's grind is its cross-sectional shape in a plane normal to the edge. Grind differs from blade profile, which is the blade's cross-sectional shape in the plane containing the blade's edge and the centre contour of the blade's back ( ...
into fine powder due to caking problem. However 100% biomass can be fired after
torrefaction Torrefaction of biomass, e.g., wood or grain, is a mild form of pyrolysis at temperatures typically between 200 and 320 °C. Torrefaction changes biomass properties to provide a better fuel quality for combustion and gasification applications. ...
in the pulverised coal mills for replacing imported coal. Torrefied biomass plants can be integrated with existing pulverised coal-fired power stations using the available hot flue gas as heat source. Cofiring dry biomass up to 20% heat input with coal is also possible directly in pulverised coal-fired power stations without facing caking problem. North west and southern regions can replace imported coal use with biomass where surplus agriculture/crop residue biomass is burnt in the fields causing pollution problems. As traditional use of biomass is being replaced by LPG at a faster pace, biomass burning in agriculture fields would become major source for causing higher level air pollution.
Biogas Biogas is a mixture of gases, primarily consisting of methane, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide, produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green waste and food waste. It is a ...
which is mainly methane/natural gas can also be used for generating protein-rich cattle, poultry and fish feed in villages economically by cultivating
Methylococcus capsulatus ''Methylococcus capsulatus'' is an obligately methanotrophic gram-negative, non-motile coccoid bacterium. ''M. capsulatus'' are thermotolerant; their cells are encapsulated and tend to have a diplococcoid shape. In addition to methane, ' ...
bacteria culture with tiny land and water foot print. The carbon dioxide gas produced as by product from these plants can be put to use in cheaper production of algae oil from
algae Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular micr ...
particularly in tropical countries like India which can displace the prime position of crude oil in near future. Union government is implementing many schemes to utilise productively the agro waste or biomass in rural areas to uplift rural economy and job potential.


Biofuel

India imports 85% of petroleum products with an import cost of $55 billion in 2020-21, India has set a target of blending 20%
ethanol Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl group linked to a ...
in petrol by 2025 resulting in import substitution saving of US$4 billion or 30,000 crore and India provides financial assistance for manufacturing ethanol from rice, wheat, barley, corn, sorghum, sugarcane, sugar beet, etc.India wants to use food grain stock for ethanol. That’s a problem in a hungry country
The Print, 1 July 2021.
In 2016, ethanol market penetration had reached 3.3% blend rate.


Electricity

India was the third largest electricity producer in the world with 1,383 TWh generation in FY 2019–2020 and 99.99% of the population having access to power supply. By 2013, India became the world's third largest producer of electricity with 4.8% global share, surpassing Japan and Russia. India ranks 6th globally in hydropower generation during the year 2019. India has 136 GW (38%) installed capacity of
renewable energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...
. It is one of the world leaders in renewable energy investments and installations. India has set a target of 175 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity by 2022. This would include 100 GW capacity from
solar energy Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar power to generate electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating), and solar architecture. It is an essen ...
sources, 60 GW from
wind power Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller impact on the environment than burning fossil fuels. Historically ...
, 10 GW from
biopower Biopower (or ''biopouvoir'' in French) is a term coined by French scholar, philosopher, historian, and social theorist Michel Foucault. It relates to the practice of modern nation states and their regulation of their subjects through "an expl ...
, and 5 GW from
small hydro Small hydro is the development of hydroelectric power on a scale suitable for local community and industry, or to contribute to distributed generation in a regional electricity grid. Exact definitions vary, but a "small hydro" project is less ...
power.


See also

* Climate change in India *
Electricity sector in India India is the third largest producer of electricity in the world. During the fiscal year (FY) 2019–20, the total electricity generation in the country was 1,598 TWh, of which 1,383.5 TWh generated by utilities. The gross electricity consum ...
* Energy policy of India *
Hydroelectric power in India India is 5th globally for installed hydroelectric power capacity. As of 31 March 2020, India's installed utility-scale hydroelectric capacity was 46,000 MW, or 12.3% of its total utility power generation capacity. Additional smaller hydroelectri ...
* Renewable energy in India * Wind power in India *
Solar power in India Solar power in India is a fast developing industry. The country's solar installed capacity was 61.966 GWAC as of 30 November 2022. Solar power generation in India ranks fourth globally in 2021. The Indian Government had an initial tar ...
*
Nuclear power in India Nuclear power is the fifth-largest source of electricity in India after coal, gas, hydroelectricity and wind power. , India has 22 nuclear reactors in operation in 8 nuclear power plants, with a total installed capacity of 7,380 MW. Nucle ...
*
World energy supply and consumption World energy supply and consumption is global production and preparation of fuel, generation of electricity, energy transport, and energy consumption. It is a basic part of economic activity. It includes heat, but not energy from food. This art ...
*
List of countries by total primary energy consumption and production This is a list of countries by total primary energy consumption and production. : 1 quadrillion BTU = 293 T W·h = 1.055 E J : 1 quadrillion BTU/yr = 1.055 EJ/yr = 293 TW·h/yr = 33.433 GW The numbers below are for the total energy consumptio ...
*
List of countries by oil consumption This is a list of countries by oil consumption. In 2020 total worldwide oil consumption is expected to drop by 9% year over year compared to 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). See also * Pea ...
*
List of countries by natural gas consumption This is a list of countries by annual natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other highe ...
* List of countries by coal production *
List of countries by electricity production This is a list of countries by annual electricity production. China is the world's largest electricity producing country, followed by the United States and India. __TOC__ Total production If possible, country links link to articles about the ele ...
*
List of countries by electricity consumption This list of countries by electric energy consumption is mostly based on the Energy Information Administration. Several non-sovereign entities are also included for information purposes, with their parent state noted. The per capita data for many ...


References

{{Asia topic, Energy policy of