India burns a lot of coal as excess heat and the war in Iran is suffocating energy supplies
NEW DELHI, INDIA – APRIL 27: People are seen protecting themselves from the sun on a hot summer day at Raisina Hill on April 27, 2026 in New Delhi, India. Delhi-NCR experienced intense heat wave conditions reaching between 42 degrees Celsius and 45 degrees Celsius across the region. (Photo by Raj K Raj/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
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India, the world’s third-largest emitter of carbon dioxide, is burning more coal as power supply disruptions from the Iran war and heatwaves across the country have increased demand for the dirty fuel.
More than 70% of India’s power is generated from coal-fired plants, and energy experts told CNBC that share is expected to rise this year.
In February, India announced that more than 52% of its total installed power generation capacity comes from non-fossil fuel sources, mostly from solar, hydro and wind. However, coal-fired power plants, which account for about 43% of power generation capacity, remain the dominant source of energy.
India’s coal-fired power generation in April rose to 164.9 gigawatts, compared to 160.7 average gigawatts last year, according to data shared by S&P Global Energy. According to the data, coal-fired power generation rose sequentially by 5.6 gigawatts, or 3.5%, in April.
About 4% of India’s installed power generation capacity is gas-fired and uses liquefied natural gas, about 60% of which is imported through the Strait of Hormuz.
Higher coal burning
High liquefied natural gas prices have also made gas-based power generation uneconomic, said Girish Madan, director of corporate ratings at Fitch Ratings in Singapore. “Therefore, coal-based power needs to share the peak load during these peak summer months,” he added.
India’s electricity demand is increasing as temperatures rise amid heat waves. On April 27, data compiled by New Delhi-based air quality monitoring platform AQI showed that all the 50 hottest cities in the world were in India.
“Heatwave conditions, with readings above 40-45 degrees C (Celsius), in many parts of India have increased demand for electricity,” Andre Lambine, who leads APAC research on short-term energy and renewables at S&P Global Energy, told CNBC in an email.
He added that although gas-fired generation doubled in the last weeks of April, it remains “1.5 gigawatts below 2025 levels, underscoring the continued migration of coal-fired gas into the energy mix.”
If the El NiƱo weather effect holds, there could be “about 10% year-on-year growth in coal-fired power generation in India,” he said.
India is expected to face extremely high temperatures this month, which could lead to “heat wave conditions in parts of Northwest, Central and Western India, and the East Coast,” the government said in a May 2 statement.
NEW DELHI, INDIA – APRIL 26: People are seen coming out on a hot day at Humayun’s Tomb, on April 26, 2026 in New Delhi, India.
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While demand for coal is driven primarily by the power sector, other industries also depend on fossil fuels, said Firat Ergene, Insights’ lead analyst for coal, petcoke, and cement at Kpler.
More demand is coming from industries like cement manufacturers, he told CNBC.
The supply of petroleum coke, which is burned as fuel, has been disrupted by conflicts in the Middle East, driving up prices. This has caused cement companies to replace petcoke with coal, explained Ergene.
Last month, India vowed to reduce carbon emissions by 47% by 2035, in line with its goal of becoming a net-zero country by 2070. India is the world’s third largest emitter of carbon dioxide, after China and the US.
Although India’s carbon dioxide emissions are still rising, the rate of growth last year was the slowest in more than two decades, according to an analysis by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air, a policy think tank.
