Coal India will ensure that power plants maintain minimum of 22 days fuel as is mandated by the Central Electricity Authority, to avoid future crisis, according to the company Chairman, Anil Kumar Jha.

Low stocks maintained by the thermal plants for working capital management vis-a-vis sudden spurt in electricity demand had triggered a fuel crisis beginning July last year. Though CIL stepped up supplies to power plants on a war footing, the gap is yet to be bridged.

In an interview to BusinessLine , Jha said: “Coal stock at power plants is now ruling at 11 days on an average. We are putting our best foot forward to push it to 22 days. And, power plants should henceforth maintain this stock, as it is logistically impossible to serve on demand.”

According to him, logistics is the prime challenge to serving consumers.

“It is not correct to say there is a crisis of fuel, as we have 45 million tonnes (mt) of idle stock at pithead. The challenge is to reach this fuel to power plants,” he said.

The company is now busy exploring transportation options to liquidate the stock.

Jha, who was appointed for the top job on May 18, is hopeful that the demand-supply gap would be breached soon as CIL supplies are up 13 per cent so far this year and the monsoon is round the corner.

According to the company, a 27-per cent drop in hydroelectric supplies is creating additional demand for fuel.

The scene is expected to get more comfortable on the coal supply front this year as the CIL-financed 53.5-km Jharsuguda-Barapali rail link was recently operationalised, connecting the resource rich Ib-valley reserves in Sundergarh district of Odisha. “We are now evacuating approximately two rake (of about 4,000 tonnes each) loads of fuel through this line. Once the rail operations are stabilised on this route, we can evacuate 4-5 rakes a day,” he said.

CIL has already opened a 13-mt mine in the area and capacity of another mine is escalated by four mt.

MCL production

Jha, who was Chairman of the Odisha-based mining subsidiary Mahanadi Coalfields (MCL), expects MCL’s production to increase by 19 mt (over 13 per cent) this year, contributing significantly to the plan to step up CIL’s total production from 567 mt in 2017-18 to 652 mt in 2018-19.

MCL is not alone. The recently opened rail-road connectivity to the prolific Magadh coalfield in Jharkhand is also expected to contribute in stepping up supplies significantly.

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