Cement Energy and Environment

talking about everything else. But until you wean the country away and move into diversifying the energy basket, coal will be important. And diversification is really, really far away -- the problem that exists in coal , exists in many other sectors of the energy industry. So you do not have primary fuel availability. It is only coal that you have in plenty and hence have a huge capacity which is based on coal. Now that internationally climate change and sensitivity for environment issues are so high, what will be India's position over coal use? India needs to negotiate very carefully on this front. Basically we have been lagging in developing our coal reserves. Our per capita consumption is still very low compared to international standards. China did the very opposite. When the Rio declarations came, China used those 20 years to grab as much carbon space as it could . So it went on a mining spree extracting as much coal as it could . And then putting as many power plants as it could , forget the right technology, inefficient power plants etc... And it was just a grab of carbon space that China did. China then reached there and now it has started talking about efficiency, cutting down emissions and moving onto a different cycle. We have missed that bus. So we have lost about 20-25 years in the development cycle which has actually deprived our country of a cheap energy source at a time we needed it the most. There is a high economic cost to it in terms of the development of the country. So the people of this country have been deprived of a cheap energy source. Now the price of that energy resource is on the rise and it is going to be borne by the people of this country -- the consumer. Tell me the dos and don'ts to do things faster. If you want to enhance coal production , then you need to get professional mining into the operations. That is the first thing . You have to sort out your land acquisition laws, you need to sort out the issues of environmental clearances which are all the bottom lines that are occurring. You need to allot more on getting infrastructure in. Hopefully with a new railway minister there will be more dynamism and we'll start getting investments flowing into the system because the railways are absolutely vital for moving not just coal but everything. But they become absolutely vital for coal because reserves are concentrated in particular pockets . So they need to be transported around. But don't you think one of the dos should be that India should, increasingly, in the coming years, lessen dependence on coal? India simultaneously needs to diversify its fuel basket. But what I'm seeing is that for next 20 years you cannot run away from coal. No matter how hard you try. You can keep talking of renewables, it makes a lot of sense to go to international fora and talk of the number of solar power plants you are going to put in. But eventually, if you look at the bigger energy picture, the bulk of your electricity will continue to come from fossil fuels. You will be adding capacities in solar and wind . But first of all you must remember that five megawatt capacity put up, say, in solar or wind is equal to one megawatt capacity put in coal. That's the difference due to plant load factors. So if you're seeking the same generation, forget about base load and everything. If you're looking at the same generation from renewables, you 're investing five times in capacity than you would be investing in fossil fuels. India's energy demand is not at peak as yet and if you see an expansion, then you will definitely see coal capacities rising , not falling. Renewables will rise very fast as well. But as I said, they need to run five times faster. Recently we heard from Adani and Tata about the demand for energy. On one side India wants to increase coal production, on the other India will be importing coal which will be a little costlier than local coal. So in view of that, what will happen to the consumer? They will keep paying more, right? The consumer cannot run away from the prices of primary fuel. If the price of primary fuel rises, someone will have to pay the bil l. Eventually even if you're thinking of moving away from coal, consumers need to understand that energy is only going to get expensive. We need to value energy and the only way we can value energy is if we pay the price for it. We do not value energy today because we are not paying the price for it. So if actually energy costs rise, we will use energy efficiently, you will also see greater incentive for renewables. 26