Dipping coal stocks at power plants may leave North in dark

Power producers managed to generate more electricity and reduce supply deficit in the January-July period. But, whether they will be able to sustain the momentum remains to be seen, as a dip in coal stocks at thermal power plants is threatening to disrupt power supply in parts of North India.

According to the Central Electricity Authority, 19 out of the 27 power plants in the northern region of the country have less than seven days of coal stock. This has resulted in increase of peak shortage to 5,323 MW on August 29 from 4,467 MW on August 26 in the region, according to National Load Dispatch Centre (NLDC).

Within the region, Uttar Pradesh is facing the biggest shortage of electricity according to the NLDC.

On August 29, the State had a peak shortage of 3,210 MW. Increasing the pressure on the State’s power plants is the low level of coal stocks. In Uttar Pradesh, 10 out of 11 coal-based plants have critical levels (less than seven days) of fuel.

Meanwhile, the power situation has improved in Western India. Peak shortage in this region has come down to 411 MW on August 29, compared with 1,300 MW on August 27, the day on which 7,250 MW of power capacity was shut in the region.

However, the coal supply situation in the western region remains critical. Coal stocks in 20 of 32 plants have less than seven days of coal stocks. Of these, seven plants have less than two days of coal stock.

According to CEA data, in the January-July period, the deficit between power availability and requirement reduced to 3.7 per cent compared with 6.8 per cent in the same period last year.

During the period, 593,412 million units of electricity were generated, 7 per cent more than the same period last year.

Thermal power plants have also been running at a slightly higher capacity than last year.

In the April-July 2014 period, the plant load factor of thermal power plants was 67.65 per cent compared with 66.14 per cent in the same period last year.

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