As mercury soars, coal shortage pushes Punjab, Haryana to brink of power crisis

The supply shortage has already led to temporary shut down of 2 units of GVK Goindwal Sahib thermal plant in Punjab, which generates 540 MW power. According to PSPCL, the units in this private thermal plant were shutdown as the thermal plant was left with only 4,141 MT of coal which can last for only 0.7 days.

Meanwhile, PSPCL’s Guru Gobind Singh thermal plant at Ropar is left with coal supplies for 8.6 days, while Guru Hargobind Thermal plant at Lehra Mohabbat in Bathinda is left with 6.3 days’ stock as on April 19.

Among the private thermal plants in the state, Talwandi Sabo has only 4 days coal stock and Rajpura plant has stock for 17.1 days.

Ropar, Govindwal Sahib thermal plants did not receive any fresh coal stock on Monday and Tuesday.
According to the All India Power Engineers Federation, the power crisis is set to worsen in the days to come.

V K Gupta, spokesperson for AIPEF, said that it was not just Punjab as the situation was bad across the northern region.

He said: “As per Central Electricity Authority’s (CEA) latest daily coal report, the coal stock at 81 out of a total of 150 thermal power stations using domestic coal is critical. The condition of the private sector thermal plants is equally bad as the coal stock of 28 out of 54 plants is in critical stage.

He added: “In Haryana, Yamuna Nagar thermal has a stock of 8 day, and Panipat thermal of 7 days. At Khedar thermal ,where the only unit is available for generation, the coal stock is for 22 days.”
According to the AIPEF statement, in the northern region, the worst suffering states are Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

In the northern region, there is an evening peak shortage of 2,400 MW, comprising 1,200 MW from Uttar Pradesh, and 600 MW from Haryana.

While PSPCL claimed that it is so far able to meet Punjab’s power demand, there have been reports of 6-7 hour power cuts due to maintenance in some areas. The situation could turn grim in coming months as demand for power for the agriculture sector rises.

So far, the outages in Punjab are being blamed on maintenance work ahead of paddy sowing apart from coal shortage.

Out of four thermal plant units in Ropar, three are working as of now while 210 MW fourth unit is not functional due to annual maintenance.

At Lehra Mohabbat, 3 out of 4 units are in operation, conservation of coal has been cited as the reason for closure of 210 MW unit here. In Talwandi Sabo, 660 MW unit has been shut down for the past one year due to annual maintenance.

In Rajpura, both the units are in working order as they have sufficient coal supplies. Both power units in Goindwal are down due to coal shortage, confirmed PSPCL authorities.

Thermal plants are once again in the dock for not maintaining 30 day coal inventory.
The Union Power Ministry has now recommended the import of coal for blending up to 10 per cent to ensure adequate stock when the power demand is at its peak in the next few months.

The present landed cost of imported Indonesian coal is around USD 200.

Also, the number of trains committed by the Indian Railways per day is 415, against 453 required by the utilities. Practically this number never exceeds 400. The wagon shortage normally affects thermal stations, which are at far-off places from coal mines, AIPEF said.

The country’s largest coal producer and supplier CIL on Tuesday said it has upped its supplies by 14.2 per cent to coal-based electricity generating plants.

Meanwhile, country’s largest coal producer and supplier CIL on Tuesday said it has upped its supplies by 14.2 per cent to coal-based electricity generating plants.

“Amid the spiraling power generation, CIL raised its supplies to thermal power stations by 14.2 per cent during the first half of April’22 compared to the same period last April,” the company said.
CIL’s supplies have hit 1.6 million tonnes (MT) per day during this period, against 1.43 MT in the similar period of April 2021.

International coal prices have been on a boil for the past many months and are showing no signs of cooling off. This turns the spotlight on domestic coal producers with CIL in the centre of it. Coal India accounts for over 80 per cent of domestic coal output.