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The Coal Ministry said on Thursday that it has joined hands with the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) to work together for promotion of green energy.
During a secretary-level joint meeting between the two ministries, it was decided that MNRE will provide technical, policy and capacity building support and the Coal Ministry will provide land, capital and undertake implementation of solar energy, green hydrogen and other renewable energy projects.
Net-Zero Plan
The Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSU) of the Coal Ministry—Coal India, NLC India Ltd (NLCIL) and The Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL)—have already embarked upon a net-zero plan in furtherance of the‘panchamrit’ targets. Over 1,600 megawatts (MW) of solar energy generation capacity has been installed, while the work on another 500 MW solar projects is at different stages, Coal Ministry said.
“In the high-level meeting, it was decided that coal companies have de-coaled surplus land masses and such land can be offered for setting up of green hydrogen projects by the private investors. Coal CPSEs also have de-coaled land mass in the open cast mines where there is naturally available water storage reservoir and head of average 100 meter height. By construction of top reservoirs, such de-coaled mines can be converted into pump storage projects. It was decided to work faster to set up such projects,” the coal ministry added.
Mission Mode
Coal CPSEs have huge land mass in the form of overburden dumps, which can be put to use for setting up of the solar projects. It was decided to undertake full assessment and to cover all the government buildings and houses with rooftop solar in ‘ mission mode’.
MNRE will support the Coal Ministry and its CPSEs in capacity building training of engineers, technicians and other functionaries through National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE).
It was also decided that suitable knowledge partnerships through IIT Roorkee, Solar Energy Corporation of India and other resource agencies associated with MNRE shall also be provided.
CPSEs under the Coal Ministry will create a generation capacity of about 12 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 and the Ministry is in the process of identification of about 10 patches of land of more than 300 acres each so as to offer to private investors for setting up of green hydrogen projects under the policy of MNRE.
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