The Hindu Business Line : Contingency plan to improve coal supplies at ‘critical’ power stations

New Delhi, Nov. 27 With the dwindling coal stock position at key thermal power stations worsening, the Centre is banking on a contingency plan aimed at improving the situation at “critical” power stations by redistributing coal supplies from domestic sources.

The Power Ministry and the Infrastructure Constraints Review Committee in the Cabinet Secretariat have asked generation major NTPC Ltd to import coal through the western coast to ease the port congestion at Haldia and Paradip ports and to overcome constraints in transportation by the Railways from these ports on the eastern coast. Also, all State Electricity Boards (SEBs) and generation utilities have been asked to expedite coal imports.

Stock position

As on November 22, the coal stock position at 29 thermal stations across the country — with a total installed capacity of 29,137 MW — had been declared as “critical”, where coal stocks in these plants was expected to last less than seven days.

Of these, the coal stock position at 18 stations has been termed as “super-critical,” with stocks expected to last less than four days. In comparison, on October 10, the situation was “critical” at 20 stations, while the coal stock position in only six stations had been declared as “super-critical.”

“While so far no generation loss has been reported up to October-end due to shortage of coal, if coal supplies are not stepped up, generation is likely to be affected,” a Government official said.

While the shortage of fuel stock at coal fired stations has put the Government in a spot, even more worrying could be the fact that stations facing “super-critical” coal stock situation include a number of super-thermal stations, several of which form the backbone of the Central and Eastern Grids, including NTPC’s 3,260-MW Vindhyachal station in Madhya Pradesh, the 1,340-MW Kahalgaon station in Bihar and the 1,600-MW Farakka station in West Bengal.

According to Government officials, the shortages are on account of a lower coal production by Coal India Ltd between April and September, mainly with excessive monsoon rains throwing production schedule out of gear.. Thermal stations are normally expected to hold coal stocks of between 15 and 30 days, depending on the location of the project. While pithead stations should hold stocks of 15 days or more, stations located away from the mine are expected to hold coal stocks for 21 to 30 days, according to Government officials.