Government is "mindful" of the fact that South Africa's coal reserves are finite, Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane told MPs on Thursday.

He was reacting to a report - raised in the House by Independent Democrats MP Lance Greyling - that the country was running into a coal crisis.

According to the latest edition of the SA Journal of Science, the country has already used up 35% of its coal reserves and may have less than 15 Gigatonnes remaining.

This is reportedly half the amount previously estimated by government.

Chabane noted that to grow the economy, energy was necessary.

"Obviously, we are mindful of the fact that [coal] is a finite resource... We have launched a programme for solar energy... to try and address specifically what you are raising. So we are mindful of that issue," he said.

Earlier, Greyling said the journal's study painted a very worrying picture.

"Instead of the much touted 50 Gigatonnes of coal reserves that was previously estimated, this study claims that we in fact only have 15 Gigatonnes of coal left in the ground.

"This figure brings into doubt the over-reliance that the recently drafted 20 year energy plan places on coal fired generation."

The ID firmly believed that South Africa needed to "wean" itself of its dependence on fossil fuels and "devise an energy plan that can see us lead the world in the field of renewable energy".