Coal imports to rise as India grapples with train shortage, surging demand

Caught between logistical bottlenecks and surging demand from power plants, India will likely increase coal imports in 2018, industry executives said, in what would be a setback to the government’s plans to cut the country’s dependence on foreign supplies.
The projected higher coal demand, which would reverse two years of declines, will be a boon for international miners such as Indonesia’s Adaro Energy, Australia’s Whitehaven Coal or global commodity merchant Glencore.

But, the country’s power plants and cement makers, the source of the resurgent demand, will end up eating the cost of the higher-priced imports.
State-owned Coal India, the world’s second-biggest coal miner by production, is grappling with a shortage of trains to carry the fuel from its mines to the country’s power plants, according to the minutes of government meeting held on a Jan. 22 and reviewed by Reuters.

India’s thermal coal imports may rise as much as 4 percent this year, with a steady 3 percent to 5 percent of growth expected over the next five years, a senior executive at Adani Enterprises, the country’s biggest coal trader, told Reuters.

Lowering China's coal-fired power overcapacity can save water for 27 mn

Urging China to cut down on its "severe" coal power overcapacity, a report on Wednesday said this could save enough water to meet annual needs of 27 million people in water-stressed areas.

The report by Greenpeace East Asia said that despite reduction in coal powered plants since 2014, the Chinese coal-fired capacity in areas of high water stress continues to increase.

However, China's per capita water resources amount to only one-third of the global average. According to the report, by 2020, more than 60 per cent of the coal power industry's water consumption is projected to take place in areas of high water stress.

China is the world's largest coal consumer, Greenpeace said.

The report also recommends that both the coal power overcapacity and water stress problems be resolved by optimising water saving in the 162 provinces.

"The proposed plan could reduce water consumption in the coal power sector by up to 500 million cubic metres in 2020 in high water-stressed areas," the report stated.

Greenpeace stated that if the expansion goes unabated, the coal power capacity in water stressed areas is projected to jump from 437 GW in 2016 to 527 GW in 2020.

It thus urged that China reduce its coal-fired capacity by retiring plants in areas of high water stress and halting the planning and construction of new coal-fired power plants.

"Targeted capacity cuts in regions with high water stress would free up water for human consumption and economically productive uses," said senior global coal campaigner Lauri Myllyvirta.
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Trump taking world back to horse & cart: Arnold Schwarzenegger at Cannes

Arnold Schwarzenegger laid into US President Donald Trump on Sunday saying his plans to revive coal would bring the world back to the horse and cart.

The Hollywood star and former California governor said he despairs of what Trump's energy policy, which is heavy on fossil fuels, will do to the planet.

"When I hear he wants to bring coal back, that's going backwards. The next thing he'll want to bring horses and buggies (carts) back," the actor and activist told reporters at the Cannes film festival.

"Trump or no Trump we all have to move forward," he added.

And he urged people worldwide to rise up to save the planet.

"All great movements -- civil rights, the vote for women, the anti-apartheid movement, the freedom movement in India -- all started on a grassroots level.

"We cannot wait for Washington. The people have to rise up and say we got to protect what we have so we don't have climate change and seven million people dying every year because of pollution."

Schwarzenegger narrates a new documentary by the son of undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau, "Wonders of the Sea 3D", which he claimed would make "people fall in love with the ocean".

He said its positive message worked much better than "the shaming, guilt and finger pointing" that Schwarzenegger believes puts people off environmentalism.

"You can't just tell people all the time you should turn off your jacuzzi and not drive a big car," he told the Hollywood Reporter.

"If you want people to change you got to make people feel good. Like 'Come to the gym and you will feel so much better.' When you see this film you will inevitably fall in love with the ocean," he added.

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While Trump tries to bring back coal, the UK goes coal-free

When you’re in a hole, it’s usually best to stop digging. But when President Trump told supporters at his 100th day rally in Pennsylvania that “we are putting our coal miners back to work,” he just burrowed deeper into the bed of administration lies on energy.

The truth of the matter is that climate regulations aren’t a “war on coal,” and no amount of presidential photo-ops will bring mining jobs back. A recent report from the Center for Global Energy clearly shows why.

The demand for U.S. coal has collapsed in the past six years, it explains, following big improvements in energy efficiency (like better lighting and appliances), cheaper gas and renewables, and a decline in coal exports as other countries look to cleaner sources of energy.

Three of the four largest coal mining companies have filed for bankruptcy, while Bob Murray — CEO of the largest remaining one — recently warned Trump that coal jobs are unlikely to return. The CEO should know, as Murray Energy’s formula for avoiding bankruptcy has largely involved slashing jobs, compromising safety, and worsening labor conditions.

America’s main competitors get the point and have already planned to phase out coal. On April 21, the United Kingdom met its energy needs without burning any coal at all — for the first time since the Industrial Revolution. And the country’s last coal-burning power station will close within the next decade.

Meanwhile, a majority of energy companies in the European Union have promised to stop investing in new coal plants by 2020.
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Adani Group to finalise investment deal for Australian project by June

Indian conglomerate Adani Group plans to begin extracting coal from the $16.5 billion Carmichael project in Australia in 2020-21, its Chairman Gautam Adani has said.

The Group, which has interests from ports to power, would finalise by June an investment decision for the project, which has been delayed due to protests from environmental groups.

In an interview to PTI, Adani said his group is not just investing in coal but also in renewable energy in Australia, seeking to develop 1,500 MW of solar projects by 2022.

"Like in India, we are investing heavily in renewable energy in Australia too," he said.

It has signed pacts to build two solar farms, each with capacity of 100-200 megawatts in Queensland and South Australia.

Adani said the company has scaled down the coal mine capacity in the first phase.

Originally seen producing 60 million tonnes a year from six open-cut pits and five underground mines, a scaled-down first stage is now planned to produce 25 million tonnes a year of coal and will cost over $4 billion. Other phases will come later.

"We will begin work within months of getting final approval from the Australian government," he said.

Projections of a global glut of coal and prolonged low prices notwithstanding, Adani is pushing ahead with plans to build the mine that would produce thermal coal to generate electricity and operate for six decades.

"About 15 million tons of coal produced from the project (in the northern Australian state of Queensland) will be shipped to India for generating electricity," he said.

The group has for more than five years battled opposition from green groups who are opposed to any expansion of the port, saying it will cut into the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. The port is to be used for exporting coal to India.

"A port already exists with capacity to handle phase-one coal," he said adding a rail line will have to be built for transporting coal from the mines to the port.

The group has so far invested Australian dollar 3.4 billion on the Abbot Point port and preparatory work for the Carmichael coal mine. It has applied for an Australian government agency loan to finance the railway line.

Adani said he is expecting Australian federal and state government nods for the coal project soon.

The Adani Group entered Australia in 2010 with the purchase of the greenfield Carmichael coal mine in the Galilee Basin in central Queensland, and the Abbot Point port near Bowen in the north.
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