The importance of coal for the future of the Indian power sector cannot be overstated. Yet, the extractable coal reserves in the country are estimated to last only 50 to 60 years under current techno-economic conditions. Given that current power plants are operating at efficiencies far from optimum, there is an enormous scope for improvement. Thus, a national efficiency mission, modelled after the existing renovation and modernisation programme, must be directed towards raising power-plant efficiencies across the country, thereby ensuring better use of this finite resource. In addition, a focused vision must be developed to strategically deploy cleaner and more efficient coal technologies.
