India's electricity demand grew 4.1% in October, with supply falling short of demand by 1%, despite a rise of 1.8% in coal-fired generation and an increase of 28.4% in solar output, a Reuters analysis of government data showed.
Demand boosted by increased economic activity after the second wave of coronavirus infections caused a shortage of coal that forced India's northern states to cut power last month for up to 14 hours a day.
The rapid demand surge and high global prices have left utilities scrambling for coal, India's dominant fuel for power generation, despite record supplies from state-run Coal India, which has a near-monopoly of production.
India's power supply shortage of 1,201 kilowatt-hours (KWh) in October was the worst since January 2017, data from federal grid regulator POSOCO showed.
Coal's share in India's electricity generation jumped to 70.6% in October from an average of 66.5% in September, the data showed.
More than half of India's coal-fired capacity now has inventories of three days or less, data from the power ministry shows.
The average coal inventory held by power plants would last four days, down two-thirds from the average of 12 days two months ago.
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