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NEW DELHI : Coal supplies to India’s power plants will be increased to 2.2 million tonnes (mt) daily to help fuel stocks reach 10 mt by Deepawali, from the present levels of around 7.5 mt. This was decided after a meeting of coal minister Pralhad Joshi, power and renewable energy minister Raj Kumar Singh and railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday, said two government officials aware of the development.
The depleted coal stocks at power plants have been fuelling concerns about a possible electricity shortage. This assumes significance given that coal fuelled power projects totalling 202.22 gigawatt (GW) remain the mainstay of India’s power generation and account for more than half of India’s power generation capacity.
“Held virtual meeting with Ministers @AshwiniVaishnaw ji & @RajKSinghIndia ji, along with officers of @CoalMinistry, CMDs & officials of coal companies. We discussed improving coal stock at thermal power plants & resolved our commitment to fulfill energy demands of the country," Joshi said in a tweet.
This 2.2 mt of coal will be ensured every day from all domestic sources including state run Coal India Ltd (CIL), Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) and captive coal mines. The coal supply to power plants was 1.92 mt on Monday and had earlier touched 2 mt on 11 October and 12 October respectively.
With power plants burning 1.85-1.87 mt of coal everyday to generate electricity, the playbook decided is to stock 3 lakh tonne per day resulting in an addition of 3 mt fossil fuel stock over a period of 10 days. Also, with lower electricity demand expected in November, the plan is to build up an additional stock of around 6 mt next month, taking the total fuel stock to 16 mt by end November.
“The ministry of coal, power and railways reviewed the situation today. The railways will provide with more rakes and moving coal is not a problem. A breather is expected by Deepawali once the fuel stocks reach the 10 mt mark," said the official cited above.
Queries mailed to the spokespersons of ministries of coal, power and railways on late Tuesday evening wasn’t immediately answered till press time.
According to Central Electricity Authority (CEA) as on Monday, India’s 135 coal fuelled power projects totalling 165.066 GW had four days of stocks. Of these, 119 coal projects totalling 129.86 GW had four days of stocks and16 plants located near coal mines totalling 35.2 GW capacity have five days of fuel stocks. India’s daily electricity consumption has crossed 4 billion units (BU) resulting in a 18% spike in coal consumption during August-September compared to the corresponding period in 2019.
Fuel stocks at India’s power plants had depleted to 7.3 mt on 7 October and 8 October. In 2018-19, the fuel stocks had also fallen to 10.1 mt at power projects. The daily coal offtake from CIL mines is expected to be further ramped up after Durga Puja when there is more workforce available at the coal fields.
“While the plan is to supply 2.2 mt from 24 October, we are trying to increase the volume of supplies from 22 October itself. There have been more dispatch than there was consumption at power plants over the past few days during Durga Puja celebrations including Dussehra. The stock is gradually being built up," said a government official aware of the deliberations cited above requesting anonymity.
According to CIL, the primary reason for the sharp depletion of fuel stocks at power plants has been the ramping down of generation by 14 imported coal-fuelled power projects due to the spike in global coal prices. This resulted in the electricity demand to be serviced from domestic coal fuelled power projects leading to an unplanned need for 10 mt of coal from CIL thereby reducing the stocks at power plants to around 7 mt.
“Now, we are in the process of recovery. A fuel stock position of 10 mt is hopefully expected by end October. We are making all out efforts for this," said the official cited above.
The coal shortage has coincided this year with a sharp spike in electricity demand, growth in number of electricity consumers and inadequate stocking up by power projects before monsoon. Also heavy rains in September impacted coal production and dispatch and non-payments of coal dues also contributed towards inadequate supplies.
India has the world’s fourth largest reserves and is the second-largest producer of coal. While CIL’ annual production target is 660 mt for the current financial year, the coal off take is expected to be 740 mt. Around 39 mt is available at CIL mines for transportation to power plants. According to the union coal ministry, India’s largest coal miner may be unable to meet its reduced annual production target of 660 mt.
While fuel supplies to power plants has improved, its impact is now being felt by other coal fuelled industries such as aluminum that claim inadequate fossil fuel to fire their smelters for producing the non-ferrous metal.
India is also operationalizing imported coal-fuelled power generation capacity of 17.06 GW, located along the coastal regions in the backdrop of imported coal price of Indonesian coal jumping from $60 per tonne in March to $200 per tonne in September and October. The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has drawn up a comprehensive plan to ensure uninterrupted fuel supplies to power plants that involves state run CIL supplying additional coal on a daily basis through more railway rakes.
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