The draft National Electricity Plan proposes that the power sector should prepare a long-term plan providing an estimate of its coal consumption requirements and inform the Coal Ministry, Railways and Ports of the same
The National Electricity Plan, which is prepared by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) every five years, provides a short-term and long-term demand forecast related to fuel, power consumption, etc.
Timely availability of adequate coal is crucial for maximising generation. In addition to tapping fuel sources or organising its availability, it is also essential to create the infrastructure to ensure fuel reaches the intended destination. Therefore, development of mines/ ports and requisite transportation facilities commensurate with the completion of projects is necessary, the draft plan said.
“The gestation period in the development of mines and even transport facilities are in some cases longer than the gestation period for setting up of thermal power stations. It is, therefore, imperative for the power sector to make its prospective long-term coal requirement known to the Ministry of Coal, Railways and Port authorities to enable them to undertake co-ordinated development of coal mines and transport infrastructure,” it added.
The authority has uploaded the first volume of the draft National Electricity Plan dealing with generation and it has asked the licensees, generating companies and the public to share their comments on the same by December 5, 2022
For FY23, a coal-based gross generation programme of 1,080 billion units (BU) has been estimated by the CEA. Based on the generation programme, coal requirement of 788.5 million tonnes (MT) has been estimated.