India and China Battle Coal-Related Energy Crises
Work progresses in a coal mine in Lakhanpur, India (Flickr)
China and India, the world's two largest consumers of coal, have been battling various challenges to their respective domestic coal infrastructures. They have been experiencing power rationing, blackouts, and dramatic price fluctuations.
Though both states are experiencing similar coal-related energy crises, the foundations for each disaster are unique. In China, fatal mining accidents have caused the central government to crack down on smaller mining organizations and impose safety measures that restrict more extensive operations. This new mining environment, combined with a sooner-than-expected winter, has caused Chinese thermal power plants to dig heavily into their reserve supplies. To exacerbate the crisis further, coal prices have ballooned to nearly $270 per ton, tripling since early 2021.
The extremely high coal prices, increased demand from unforeseen climatic events, and diminishing supplies have forced Beijing to take dramatic action to avoid power outages. Beijing will allow a 20 percent fluctuation in base coal power prices starting October 15 in an attempt to pass production costs onto industrial and commercial users. Additionally, 19 of China's provinces have implemented power rationing to ease the burden on the state’s coal power plants, which provide 57.7 percent of the country's energy.
Meanwhile, India is suffering from distribution chain problems. India's domestic coal production has been increasing rapidly, and the government plans to produce 1 billion tons of coal by 2024. As a result, coal provides even more of India's energy than it does China’s, accounting for nearly 70 percent of India's energy consumption.
Unexpectedly heavy monsoons have severely damaged the infrastructure needed to transport coal from mines to thermal power plants. Although these aren’t unprecedented problems in India, the current high cost of coal makes it difficult to import the amount needed to cover distributional lapses. As a result, power plants must dip into their reserve coal.
As it stands, eight in ten power plants are "within days" of running out of coal, according to the Guardian. Delhi's chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, wrote to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that the capital "could face a blackout" if power stations did not receive more coal. States such as Rajasthan have experienced power cuts nearing 14 hours, and power rationing has become commonplace across India.
The coal crises India and China are facing right now are not unprecedented. Climate change can intensify abnormal weather events, such as India's strong monsoons or China's early winter. Additionally, as there is a concerted global effort to move away from coal production and usage, prices for fossil fuels are expected to remain higher than in previous eras. In tandem, these economic and climatic realities spell trouble for coal-dependent and rapidly industrializing nations.