India Burns More Coal as Heatwave and Iran War Tighten Energy Supply
CNBC reported Monday that India is ramping up coal consumption as a brutal nationwide heatwave collides with energy supply disruptions tied to the ongoing Iran conflict. The combination is pushing the world’s third-largest carbon dioxide emitter further toward the dirtiest fossil fuel, even as its renewable capacity continues to expand.
Coal Takes on a Heavier Load
India’s coal-fired output averaged 164.9 gigawatts in April, up from 160.7 gigawatts in the same month a year earlier, according to S&P Global Energy data cited by CNBC. That represents a sequential monthly gain of roughly 3.5%. Coal already accounts for nearly 43% of India’s total installed generation capacity and supplies more than 70% of its electricity. Experts told CNBC that share is likely to grow through the rest of 2026.
Girish Madan, director of corporate ratings at Fitch Ratings in Singapore, told CNBC that elevated liquefied natural gas prices have rendered gas-fired generation economically unworkable. Coal must therefore carry a larger burden during the peak summer period, he said. Gas-fired output did recover slightly in the final weeks of April but remained about 1.5 gigawatts below year-ago levels, S&P Global’s Andre Lambine noted.
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Why LNG Has Become So Expensive
Around 4% of India’s generation capacity runs on imported LNG. Roughly 60% of those imports transit the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint now disrupted by the Iran war. Supply constraints have pushed LNG spot prices sharply higher, squeezing the economics of gas-fired plants. Cement producers are feeling a parallel squeeze. Petroleum coke supplies, another industrial fuel source, have also been hit by Middle East disruptions, lifting petcoke prices and pushing cement companies toward coal as a substitute, according to Kpler analyst Firat Ergene.
Background: India’s Climate Commitments Under Pressure
India crossed a milestone in February, announcing that more than 52% of its total installed generation capacity now comes from non-fossil sources, led by solar, wind, and hydropower. Last month the country also pledged to cut the emissions intensity of its economy by 47% by 2035, targeting net-zero by 2070. Yet carbon dioxide emissions continue to rise, even if last year’s growth rate was the slowest in over two decades, per analysis from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
Hotter Months Still Ahead
On April 27, temperature monitoring platform AQI recorded all 50 of the world’s hottest cities inside India. The Indian government warned on May 2 that heat-wave conditions are likely to persist across northwest, central, western, and east-coast regions through May. If an El Nino pattern develops, S&P Global’s Lambine cautioned, India’s coal-fired generation could climb as much as 10% year on year.
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