Worldwide energy crisis - Price rise in coal It's very shocking news that most thermal power plants do not have enough stock of coal. ou...
Worldwide energy crisis - Price rise in coal
These figures show that power plants do not have sufficient stock of coal. Now the question arises here, "Why does this critical situation occur "? It is mainly because India has stopped importing coal from foreign countries as a result of the steep price rise of coal. India is now solely dependent on supply from Coal India Ltd., and as imports stopped, the supply of coal got affected, and thus the production of electricity. For this sudden drastic change, neither the power plants nor Coal India Ltd. was prepared. But besides this reason, the following factors are also responsible.
- In the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, the major part of industries either stopped or reduced their production, but after the lockdown, industries started 100% production so as to meet the increasing demand for commodities, which raised the demand for electricity.
- This year monsoon in India lasted till September ending and many coal mines are filled with water (opencast mines - these mines are closer to the earth's surface ), so becomes difficult to extract coal and dispatch because of waterlogging in the concerned areas.
- Earlier, India was importing coal from Australia and China, but now imports from Indonesia. But because of the heavy price rise in coal, India has decided to stop importing coal from abroad. Now, almost all thermal power plants are solely dependent on Coal India Ltd for the supply of coal.
- During the pandemic, transportation of coal was comparatively easier because of less demand so power plants were maintaining coal stocks for 7-10 days only but as per rule, they should maintain stock for 22 - 25 days and now because of a sudden increase in demand of electricity, coal India ltd is unable to meet the demand.
Because of these four major reasons, the electricity crisis is likely to occur in India. Govt. of India is trying to take very concrete and hard steps to regularise the smooth supply of coal to power plants. And because of the monsoon and pandemic, the extraction of coal was hampered, but whatever stock in hand will be sent to power plants.
But this is not the case only in India, but many other countries are facing the problem of an electricity crisis because of a heavy price rise in almost all kinds of fossil fuel, including coal, natural gas, and crude petroleum products.
In Europe, the rates of natural gas have risen by 400% and electricity rates by 250%. The Chinese factories have reduced their production by 18%. Especially, many cold countries would face more problems in the winter season because it requires more electricity or gas to keep houses warmer. At the same time shortage of coal may also affect industrial production as China and other Southeast countries have already reduced their production, which in turn, may affect scrutinizing manpower.
Worldwide reasons for the shortage of fossil fuel -
1. There exists a substantial decrease in investment for finding out resources and extraction projects of fossil fuel. Because of reasons like pressure on capital investors and different rules and criteria, investment in projects of fossil fuel decreased by up to 40% by 2015.
2. On a large basis, crude oil and natural gas sectors are dominated by a dictatorship ruled countries and many democratic countries are transferring their government. energy sectors to open market, therefore, prices of crude petroleum, coal, and natural gas are also controlled by the open market.
3. There exists a lack of proper policy and infrastructure regarding the extraction projects of fossil fuels.
Effect of fossil fuel shortage on different countries -
1. China -In many industrial sectors of China, there are power cuts up to several hours, and therefore, many industries either stopped or minimized production.
2. Lebanon - Power stations like Al-Jaharani and Dir-Ammar were shut down. The military has started an emergency fuel supply.
3. The U.S.A.- On Friday, the price of one gallon of gasoline was 3.25 dollars, which was merely 1.27 dollars.
4. Britain - In Britain, the price of gas is at its peak. Britain has a great reservoir of natural gas near its northern sea, but currently, gas extraction has been stopped.
5. Southern East Asia - Prices of natural gas have risen by 84%, which is the highest in the last 13 years.
Conclusion -
Besides continuous research and upgrading programs run by many countries to maximize the use of clean and pure energy, such as solar, wind, and hydropower, the use of fossil fuel as an energy resource has remained a key factor, and till today, we are largely dependent on it. We need to regularise and maximize the use of unconventional and renewable energy sources because the use of fossil fuel for energy needs is badly affecting our health and the environment. Nowadays, we are witnessing many man-made and natural disasters like increasing temperature, forest fires, and floods across the globe. To date, we completely meet our energy demand from an unconventional and renewable energy source; we need to save a single unit of electricity and even a drop of fuel. We need to adopt a natural lifestyle, switch off something, whether it is an electrical appliance or the engine of a car. Here, every single and little contribution matters. After all," Energy saved is Energy produced ".
Source: The Dainik Bhaskar.
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