Low power. Have ample coal stocks to fire up power plants: Govt

Putting to rest all apprehensions on an imminent blackout in some parts of the country due to depleting coal stocks at the power plant, the Union Ministries of Coal and Power have said the stocks were sufficient for more than four days’ requirement and were expected to further improve in coming days.

Pralhad Joshi, Union Minister of Coal, said that ample coal is available in the country to meet the demand of power plants. “And any fear of disruption in power supply is entirely misplaced. The coal stock at power plant end is about 72 lakh tonnes, sufficient for four days’ requirement, and that the Coal India Limited (CIL) end is more than 400 lakh tonnes, which is being supplied to the power plants,” he said.

The ‘crisis’ has also triggered a political debate. Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh tweeted, “Suddenly, we are hearing of a crisis in coal supply to power plants. Is one particular private company making a fortune out of this crisis? But who will investigate?”

According to Joshi, domestic coal-based power generation has grown by nearly 24 per cent this year (till September 2021) thanks to robust supply from the coal companies. High international prices of coal have affected imports and power plants dependent on imports have reduced supply by almost 30 per cent. Power Minister, RK Singh, after reviewing the coal stock position in all thermal power plants, including those plants which are supplying power to distribution companies of Delhi, said that distribution companies of Delhi will get as much power as requisitioned by them.

NTPC and DVC have been directed to ensure full availability as per the requirement of the Discoms. GAIL has been advised to make gas available from all sources to the gas-based power plants in Delhi. NTPC has also been advised to offer normative declared capacity to the Delhi Discoms as per their allocations from gas-based power plants under the respective PPAs. If any Discom is found resorting to load shedding despite power being available as per the PPA, action would be initiated against them.

Despatch exceeds usage

As on October 9, the total despatch of coal from all sources (CIL, Singareni Collieries Company (SCCL), captive coal mines and imported coal) was 1.92 million tonnes (mt), while the total consumption was 1.87 mt. Thus, despatch has exceeded consumption, indicating gradual building up of stock.

Despite heavy rains in the coal field areas, CIL had supplied more than 255 mt coal to the power sector during the first half of this fiscal. CIL, which had ramped up supplies to close to 1.45-1.5 mt a day in the last 2-3 days, is looking to further step up supply to close to 1.6-1.7 mt by the end of this month.

This apart, Singareni Collieries is also looking to increase supplies to the power sector to close to 1,60,000-1,75,000 tonnes a day over the next one week. It is currently supplying around 1,45,000 tonnes a day, almost 16 per cent more compared with around 1,25,000 tonnes a day last month.

“We are currently supplying around 84-85 per cent of our production to the power sector. We plan to increase it to 92-93 per cent in the coming days,” a senior company official told BusinessLine .

According to an official statement from the Ministry of Coal, the supply from SCCL and captive coal blocks would contribute to over three lakh tonnes of coal every day. The daily average coal requirement at the power plants is about 18.5 lakh tonnes of coal, whereas the daily coal supply has been around 17.5 lakh tonnes. Due to extended monsoon,s the despatches were constrained.

The unprecedented increase in coal-based power coupled with supply shortage during monsoon and less stock build up in April-June, 2021 has led to the depletion of coal stocks in power plants. Power plants, which had a total stock of 13 days (23.97 mt) as on August 1, 2021, have seen that decline to four days (7.3 mt) as on October 7. Of the 135 power plants monitored on daily basis, 69 plants have coal stocks of less than four days as on October 7 and another 41 have stocks ranging from 5 to 8 days.

“The coal available at the power plants is a rolling stock which gets replenished by supplies from the coal companies on a daily basis,” the Coal Ministry said.