Rajya Sabha updated on coal-lignite gasification
The Government has approved Rs.8,500 crore incentive scheme to provide Viability Gap Funding (VGF) to promote Coal and Lignite Gasification Projects for both public and private sector undertakings, Minister of Coal and Mines G. Kishan Reddy said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on 2 Dec http://coal.nic.in.
He also updated the house on steps taken by the government to promote the usage of clean coal technologies.
These are:
(i) Policy initiatives to support coal gasification projects:
In commercial coal block auction, there is a provision for 50% rebate in revenue share for the coal used towards gasification purposes.
Creation of sub-sector under Non-Regulated Sector (NRS) linkage auction to enable supply of coal to Coal-Gasification projects.
(ii) Incentive Scheme for Promotion of coal gasification – the Rs.8,500 crore scheme.
(iii) The Government has notified Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) Policy in September, 2016 to enable the development of UCG so as to maximize the utilization of difficult to mine coal and lignite resources and promote Clean Coal Technologies.
The Government had formulated Coal Bed Methane (CBM) Policy in 1997 for development of CBM. As per the policy, Ministry of Petroleum & natural Gas (MoPNG) became the administrative Ministry and Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) was made the nodal agency for development of CBM in the country https://www.bseindia.com/.
MoPNG in consultation with Ministry of Coal (MoC) has identified and offered CBM blocks from coal bearing areas. In partial modification of CBM Policy, 1997, vide notification dated 8 May 2018, the Government granted the exploration and exploitation rights of CBM to Coal India Limited (CIL) and its subsidiaries in coal bearing areas for which they possess coal mining rights https://www.nseindia.com/.
(v) the Government is also promoting beneficiation of coking coal in the country by setting up of coal washeries.
There is no specific concept to estimate Clean Coal Reserve. However, as on 1 April 2024, the total estimated coal resource in the county is 389,421.34 million tonnes https://www.iea.org/.
Details of coal bed methane potential in the country are as under:
As per DGH, the estimated CBM resources of India as on 31 April 2024 is 2,600 billion cubic meter (BCM).
At present, 15 CBM Blocks are active. Out of these 15 Blocks, 6 CBM Blocks are in production stage, 2 CBM Blocks are in development stage and 7 CBM Blocks are in exploration stage covering an area of about 7009 sq.km https://unfccc.int/.
MoPNG and DGH has still 5,100 sq km of coal bearing area for which CBM prospectivity examination is to be carried out.
In CIL subsidiaries leasehold, one CBM Block under Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) leasehold area, i.e. Jharia CBM Block-I has been awarded to CBM developer. The block is under exploration stage.
In addition, two more CBM blocks have been delineated for CBM extraction within existing leasehold area of CIL subsidiaries, he said. fiinews.com
