Coal stocks at thermal power plants to increase in next 2-3 days: Official

Coal stocks at thermal power plants will start increasing in another two to three days, according to an official in the coal ministry. The remarks come at a time when the country's power plants are grappling with coal shortage.

"The situation has started improving from yesterday. In the next two to three days, coal stocks will stop depleting at the power plants and will start going up," the official said on the condition of anonymity.

A Coal India official also said the company is making efforts to ramp up its supply to power sector with 1.5 million tonne per day in another few days from present 1.4 million tonne.

Coal India Ltd (CIL) accounts for over 80 per cent of domestic coal output.

Read | Coal crunch: 64 non-pithead power plants left with less than 4 days of dry fuel stocks

He further said power plants did not pick up coal from CIL from October last year till February this year. "Power plants used their coal stocks and did not replenish them. They even did not adhere to the CEA guidelines of stocking the coal for 22 days. With rise in power demand, the demand for fuel also went up," he said.

When things went beyond their control they started putting blame on Coal India, he added.

Coal India, the official said, is trying to match up the requirement of power plants but it is taking time, he said.

On Monday, CIL Director Marketing S N Tiwary had said, "the company is responsive to the importance of improving coal stocks at thermal power stations. We are rallying our efforts to restore normalcy as early as possible by pushing additional quantities. The demand is far outstripping the supplies now."

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In fact, during the first half of this financial year, CIL's supply to the power sector at nearly 246 million tonne (MT) was highest ever for this period, and the demand from this sector was even higher as an outcome of a sudden spike in coal-based generation to unprecedented levels. There was an additional supply burden of around 10-12 MT on CIL to cater to domestic coal-based plants due to curtailment of power generation by plants which source their coal from overseas, where the prices have skyrocketed and holding firm.

Generally, CIL builds up coal inventories at power utilities during the first quarter but Covid posed a hindrance to this, and extra stocking was not possible. Compounding the woes, extended monsoon at coalfield areas interrupted production and supplies. Primarily, what precipitated the situation was the unforeseen escalation in the power generation from the second week of August and the insatiable appetite for coal, CIL had said.

"Reasons aside, the company is fully seized of the imperative need to meet the power sector's demand. With the monsoon on the wane, increased production and availability of more coal will help us stabilise stocks at power plants," the company had said.

Ahead of the festive season, coal supply crisis seems to be deepening as 64 non-pithead power plants are left with less than four days of the dry fuel stocks, according to a report. The latest report on coal stocks for power plants from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) also showed that 25 such power plants had coal stocks for less than seven days as on October 3.

As many as 64 non-pithead thermal power plants had less than four days of stocks of the dry fuel. The CEA monitors coal stocks at 135 power plants that have a cumulative generation capacity of 165 GW on a daily basis.

Overall, total coal stocks of 78,09,200 tonne were available at the 135 plants as on October 3 and that was sufficient for four days.

The daily coal requirement of the 135 power plants with 165 GW of installed capacity is 18,24,100 tonne.

Among the 135 plants, not even a single one had eight or more days of coal stocks.

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