Thermal power plants (TPPs) have blended around seven million tonnes of imported coal during the April-June period this year following the Centre’s directive for blending of foreign coal to overcome shortage.

“By and large for April-June 2022, we have blended around seven million tonnes of imported coal, which adds up to 10 million tonnes (mt) if compared with domestic coal as imported coal has 1.4 times more GCV than that of domestic coal. I still have around 2.5-3 mt in stock with NTPC, DVC and some States. Many States have given their indent to Coal India, which has issued tenders for import,” Power Minister RK Singh told the BusinessLine.

Considering the increased demand for electricity, coupled with coal supplies from domestic sources not matching the consumption, the Power Ministry in April directed all Gencos including IPPs to blend imported coal for power generation. Till June 24, domestic coal based plants have reserve stock for more than nine days, while imported coal based plants have stocks for almost 12 days.

Coal imports

For FY23, India is expected to import around 59 mt of coal for blending at power plants, while for June, the in-bound shipments are likely to be in the range of 4.8-5 mt.

Earlier this month, State-run miner Coal India (CIL) floated a global tender to import 2.42 mt of the key commodity for July-September of FY23. This was done within a week of receiving indents from seven state Gencos and 19 Independent Power Plants (IPPs). Overall, till July 2023, CIL has to import around 12 mt of coal.

Coal imports, which hit a peak of 248 mt in FY20, declined to 215 mt in FY21 and further to 209 mt in FY22. The decline in FY22 is largely due to a decline in imports by Power Sector, which came down from 69 mt in FY20 to 45 mt in FY21 and then further south to 27 mt in FY22.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW