India To Expand Coal Power Fleet by 2047

December 05, 2025

India’s government said it’s considering a significant boost in coal-fired power plant capacity beyond the current 2035 peak coal expansion stipulated and may continue coal plants building until 2047. This was reported by Bloomberg on Friday of the plan to boost coal power plant.

The debate is currently ongoing between the India’s Power Ministry and the policy making agency NITI Aayog on ditching the current 2035 deadline coal power expansion and extension by at least 12 yearsto boost energy security in their county.  

If the plan to expand the coal fleet by 2047 come to reality, The country could have as much as 420GW of coal power capacity by that year, which would almost double the current availability, or a massive 87% jump from 2025, according to the sources. 

Coal generation remain the core India’s electricity source as power generation continue to increase contributing to India’s electricity mix with about 60% share of total power output. 

IThe country’sannual installations of new coal-fired power capacity hit 4 gigawatts in 2024, flat on the five-year high of 2023 and the highest level since 2019, according to official government figures. 

India plans to add as much as 90 GW of coal capacity by 2032 as it looks to meet its surging power demand with reliable baseload electricity.

Despite booming renewable capacity additions, India continues to rely on coal to meet most of its power demand as authorities also look to avoid blackouts in cases of severe heat waves.

Coal will still be a key part of India’s power system for the next two decades, Rajnath Ram, adviser for energy NITI Aayog, said in September. 

“We cannot be subjective about coal. The question is how sustainably we can use it,” the official noted. 

One way is to install carbon capture and storage systems to reduce emissions from burning the most polluting fossil fuel.  

Extract from Oilprice.com