Facts and Figures
From the EIA, August 14, 2014: India is increasingly dependent on imported fossil fuels as demand continues to rise.
Data points:
- India's dependence on imported fossils fuels as of 2022: 38% of total consumption
- India: 4th-largest energy consumer (behind China, the US, and Russia)
- India: 3rd-largest economy based on purchasing power
- India: world's 2nd-largest population
- natural gas: India did not import any natural gas until 2004
- India: 4th-largest importer of natural gas (behind Japan, South Korea, and China); mostly from long term contracts with Qatar
- coal is India's primary source of energy; world's 3rd-largest importer of coal
December 24, 2016: could India be the growth engine for growth in Asia? -- Platts.
March 15, 2016: India's oil demand: on the verge of take-off -- The Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, March 2016. Blog posting here.
November 9, 2015: GE to invest heavily in India to build diesel locomotives, probably to move coal.
Original Post
Blackouts in India widened as inadequate coal supplies forced plants to shut down, after increased industrial activity and a monsoon deficit boosted electricity demand from factories and households.
The national peak shortage yesterday expanded to more than 6 percent from the 3.9 percent average in July, according to data from the Power Ministry and Power System Operation Corp., a unit of Power Grid Corp. of India. Stocks at power stations run on local coal plunged. Equipment breakdowns or maintenance also caused other plants to be under shutdown, including ones operated by Tata Power Co. and Adani Power Ltd.
A surge in economic activity has led to higher demand for the fuel, exacerbating supply bottlenecks caused by heavy rains at some mines and slow railway transport in places. India’s economy grew at the fastest pace in more than two years, the Central Statistical Office said in a statement in New Delhi yesterday. Slow economic activity had caused coal stocks at power plants to swell last year.Later: I was going to explain the purpose of this post, but then got interrupted. See first comment/reply below. And I just remembered something. I will add another reply.
