Ample coal stocks for power plants; no blackout risk, says govt

 States continue to flock spot market, prices at record high

With several states and power distribution companies (discoms) pressing the panic button on coal supply and shortfall in electricity, the Ministry of Coal and Power has rushed in to scotch any rumours of a blackout or power cuts.

Close to 16 Gw of coal-based power generation capacity is under outage (not generating) for lack of coal supply, according to the data on the National Power Portal.

An increase in international prices of coal and natural gas has added to the woes of power consumers.

The Union Ministry of Coal in a public statement said ample coal was available in the country to meet the demand of the power plants. “Any fear of disruption in the power supply is entirely misplaced,’’ the ministry said. Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi told news agency ANI: “Reviewed coal production & supply situation in the country. Assuring everyone that there is absolutely no threat of disruption in power supply. There is sufficient coal stock of 43 million tonnes with @CoalIndiaHQ equivalent to 24 days coal demand.”

Government officials maintained the gas supply was being maintained since there was enough gas available. Gas consumption in the power sector has almost doubled to 25 million standard cubic metres a day (mmscmd) from 16 mmscmd earlier over the past few weeks to meet the challenges of power generation since coal was in short supply.

Gas-based power generators, however, usually rely on ad hoc purchases since they do not sign long-term contracts for regassified LNG.

Coal stocks at thermal units have been critical since August. Currently, 16.8 Gw of power generation capacity has no coal stock, and 29 Gw has less than three days of coal.

The coal ministry, however, said the coal available at the power plants “is a rolling stock which gets replenished by the supplies from the coal companies on a daily basis”.

The ministry said due to high international prices of coal, the supply of power from imported coal-based power plants reduced by almost 30 per cent while domestic coal-based power supply had gone up nearly 24 per cent in the first half of this year.

The power ministry in a statement said despite heavy rain in August and September, a “steep hike in power demand due to economic recovery and increase in prices of imported coal, domestic coal supply have sustained the operation of power plants and all-out efforts are being made to ensure full power supply to the discoms as per their requirements”.