India warns of possible power shortages
India is facing possible energy supply problems in the coming months due to coal shortages and a post-pandemic surge in demand, the power minister said in a report published Tuesday.
His comments come as China and European countries face energy crises that are disrupting global supply chains and sending prices soaring.
“Normally the demand starts coming down in the second half of October… when (the weather) starts cooling,” R. K. Singh told the Indian Express in an interview. “But it’s going to be touch and go,” Singh said, calling demand for electricity “tremendous”.
“Demand is not going to go away, it’s going to increase… We’ve added 28.2 million consumers. Most of them are lower-middle class and poor, so they are buying fans, lights, televisions sets,” he said.
India’s coal-fired power stations had on average four days’ stock at the end of September, the lowest in years.
More than half the plants are on alert for outages and the government is mulling bringing idled power stations back into operation.
