JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The world's dependence on coal for more than 40% of its power needs was not showing any signs of decreasing, but was instead poised to increase slightly in the next 20 years, Clean Coal Centre MD Dr John Topper said on Wednesday.

Topper, whose Clean Coal Centre in the UK operates under the auspices of the International Energy Agency, told the Fossil Fuel Foundation's Clean-Coal Indaba in Johannesburg that coal was expanding on a global basis at a rate equal to, if not more than, any of the other energy minerals.

"So, getting coal to be used cleanly is becoming very much a focus area for many governments and many industries," Topper said.

He said that coal demand had grown "considerably faster" than the demand for oil, gas and other energy sources from 2000 to 2007.

The biggest increase in the demand for coal had been from non-Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries, which was projected to continue to 2030.

India would become a "huge" importer of coal, owing to all the super-critical coal-fired power stations that India was building, and China, which had been a small net exporter of coal, would become a "significant importer".

India was planning, through 18 projects, to introduce an additional 30 000 MW of capacity, more than one-half of which would be coastal, which meant that India would be importing the necessary coal.

India, which had begun its new-build programme, was experiencing difficulty in securing its coal supplies and was buying reserves in Indonesia.

Topper said he was expecting changes to the dynamics of the international coal trade, which would put upward pressure on prices.

Currently, only 15% of the world's coal use was traded, with the rest sourced indigenously.

"Over 40% of the world's power comes from coal today. Most projections show that that is not going to decrease. If anything, it is going to increase slightly over the next 20 or so years," he said.