Conventional sources of energy :
Coal :
- In India, coal is the most abundantly available fossil fuel.
- It provides a substantial part of a nation's energy needs.
- It is used for power generation, to supply energy to industry as well as for domestic needs.
- India is highly dependent on coal for meeting its commercial energy requirements.
- Coal is formed due to compression of plant material over millions of years.
- Coal is found in variety of forms depending on degrees of compression and depth and time of burial.
- PEAT : Decaying plants in swamps produce peat, which has a low carbon and high moisture content and low heating capacity.
- LIGNITE : i s a low grade brown coal which is soft, with high moisture content.
- Principal lignite reserves are in Nevyeli in Tamil Nadu and are used for generation of electricity.
- BITUMINOUS : Coal that has been buried deep and subjected to increased temperatures is bituminous coal, It is the most popular coal in commercial use.
- Metallurgical coal is high grade bituminous coal which has a special value for smelting iron in blast furnaces.
- ANTHRACITE : is the highest quality hard coal.
- In India, coal occurs in rock series of 2 main geological ages, namely Gondwana , little over 200 million years in age and tertiary deposits of about 55 million years old.
- Major resources of gondwana coal, which are metallurgical coal, are located in Damodar Valley ( West bengal- Jharkhand), Jharia, Raniganj, Bokaro are important coalfields,
- The Godavri, Mahanadi, Son and Wardha Valleys also contain coal deposits.
- Tertiary coals occur in north eastern states of Meghalaya, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.
Petroleum :
- Petroleum or mineral oil is the next major energy source in India after coal.
- It provides fuel for heat and lighting, lubricants for machinery and raw materials for number of manufacturing industries.
- Petroleum refineries act as ‘ nodal industry’ for synthetic textile, fertiliser and numerous chemical industries.
- Most petroleum occurrences in India are associated with anticlines ( fold of a stratified rock) and fault traps in rock formations of tertiary age.
- Petroleum is also found in fault traps between porous and non porous rocks.
- Mumbai High, Gujarat and Assam are major petroleum production areas in India.
- Ankeleshwar is the most important field of Gujarat.
- Assam is the oldest oil producing state of India.
- Digboi, Naharkatiya and Moran Hugrijan are the most important oil fields in the state.
Natural Gas :
Uses of Natural Gas
- Natural Gas is found with petroleum deposits and is released when crude oil is brought to the surface.
- It can be used as a domestic and industrial fuel for heating, electricity generation , chemical and fertilizer production , and transportation.
- Expansion of gas infrastructure and local city gas distribution (COD) networks, natural gas is also emerging as a preferred transport fuel (CNG) and cooking fuel (PNG) at homes.
- India has significant gas reserves located in the Mumbai High and allied fields on the west coast , as well as in the Cambay basin.
- More recently, new gas reserves have been identified in the Krishna-Godavari basin on the east coast.
- The Hazira-Vijaipur-Jagdishpur (HVJ) cross-country gas pipeline was constructed by GAIL (India) and is 1,700 km long .
- The pipeline connects Mumbai High and Bassein gas fields with various fertilizer, power, and industrial complexes in western and northern India .
- Overall, India’s gas infrastructure has expanded over ten times from 1,700 km to 18,500 km of cross-country pipelines.
- The Gas Grid project aims to link all gas sources and markets across the country, including North Eastern states, with a pipeline network of over 34,000 km.
Electricity :
- Has wide range of applications.
- Electricity is generated mainly in 2 ways : by running water which drives hydro turbines to generate hydro electricity ; and by burning other fuels such as coal, petroleum, natural gas to drive turbines to produce thermal power.
- Hydro electricity is generated by fast flowing water, which is a renewable resource.
- India has a number of multi purpose projects like Bhakra Nangal, Damodar Valley corporation, the Kopili Hydel project, etc. producing hydroelectric power.
- Thermal electricity is generated by using coal, petroleum and natural gas.
- Thermal power stations use non renewable fossil fuels for generating electricity.
