Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi on Wednesday said that plans are afoot to increase coal stocks at thermal power plants from the present around 24 million tonnes (mt) to 40 mt by March 2023.
According to the National Power Portal, coal stocks at coal-fired power plants stood at 24.6 mt as on Tuesday.
“October first week, the coal stocks are 24 mt, and our plan is to keep at least 40 mt of stock by March 31, 2023,” Joshi told reporters on the sidelines of an MoU signing event for setting up coal-to-chemical projects through the Surface Coal Gasification route.
For the non-power sector, the Ministry will take a decision in a week, he added.
The Minister informed that the country will soon be self-sufficient in thermal coal.
“Last year (FY22), Coal India production was 622 mt. This year (FY23), it will be 700 mt. Rest of the efforts (from other mining PSUs) will help us have an additional output of around 200 mt. So, in FY23 we will produce 900 mt. Going ahead, we will keep on increasing it. By FY26, we will reach the target of 1 billion tonnes annual production,” Joshi added.
Coal gasification
Mining giant Coal India (CIL) on Wednesday signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with five leading PSUs for coal gasification projects.
For setting up four large scale coal-to-chemical projects through surface coal gasification route, CIL inked three separate MoUs with Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL), Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) and GAIL (India). In addition, NLC India (NLCIL) is signing an MoU with BHEL.
The aggregated estimated cost of the projects is ₹35,000 crore. The proposed surface coal gasification (SCG) projects are planned to be set up in West Bengal, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
The projects will also lead to employment generation with direct jobs for around 1,200 people and more than 20,000 indirect employment opportunities.
Ministry on a mission mode is fast tracking utilisation of coal and has targeted to achieve 100 mt coal gasification by 2030. It has also taken initiatives for allocating ₹6,000 crore to support CPSEs by incentivising implementation of five coal gasification plants, Joshi said.