The average supply of coal-fired power plants during October so far stood at 1.43 MT per day, which has now increased to 1.51 MT in the last four days.
The government has asked state-owned Coal India Limited (CIL) to increase the supply of coal to power producers by 1.55-1.6 million tonnes per day around the Durga Puja period and to 1.7 MT per day after October. According to one source 20.
The development assumes significance in view of the country’s coal-starved power plants at a time when the festive season has begun.
“Yesterday (Monday), a meeting was held in Delhi and Coal India was asked to (supply) 1.55-1.6 million tonnes (of coal to the power sector) per day around the time of puja; and after October 20 , the public sector undertaking is expected to do 1.7 MT per day,” said the private source for the development.
Coal dispatch by CIL to the power sector stood at 1.615 MT on Monday.
In a country where 69 percent of the total electricity generation is coal based, CIL powers the country’s power sector. According to a recent report by the firm, about 80 per cent of CIL’s total supply is met by the power sector.
The source said that the power plants are getting the quantity of coal required for production, but the stock is not being created as they have not replenished it.
The source said the coal reserves in the power plants would start building up from November 1.
“They (power plants) did not replenish their stock. Many of them took this risk. So, they are paying for it now,” the source said.
He said that Coal India Limited (CIL) had 100 million tonnes of fuel stock at the end of the financial year 2020-21.
“Why did that stock accumulate because people (power plants) did not take their specified supply. They thought why waste money now when there is no need,” he said.
CIL on Monday said it has ramped up the supply of coal to power utilities across the country to 1.51 million tonnes (MT) per day during the last four days of the current month, and asserted that it is clearing enough for transportation. Manufacturing logistics. dry fuel.
The average supply of coal-fired power plants during October so far stood at 1.43 MT per day, which has now increased to 1.51 MT in the last four days.
CIL had said that it is making all efforts to bridge the demand-supply gap as far as possible. Availability of coal will not be a problem with the stock of 40 million tonnes and its increase.
SN Tiwari, Director (Marketing), CIL had said, “The objective is to further augment the supply in the power sector, which we hope to achieve after the puja. Once the dispatch rate is maintained, the stock build-up will help tide over tight conditions.”
Despite heavy rainfall, CIL produced around 126 MT of coal during the second quarter of the current financial year, setting a record high for the second quarter, registering a year-on-year growth of 9.6 per cent.
During the first 10 days of October, the production of CIL has registered an increase of 6.5 per cent over the previous October.
The production will further increase as the attendance at the coalfields improves after the festival holidays.
CIL’s supply to power generation companies has been at an all-time high this fiscal, but it is a never-before-experienced appetite for dry fuel, driven by unmatched growth in power generation that has driven demand-supply scale. has spoiled.
Once October and major festivals are over, conditions will improve and power demand is expected to come down a notch as the pressure eases.
During the first half of the current financial year, the loading of 225.3 rakes per day in the power sector was 28 per cent higher as compared to 176.3 rakes in the corresponding period of last year.
“The company is building adequate evacuation logistics to transport the coal,” it said.
The major pain points for CIL are the 14 imported coal based power plants which are reducing their generation due to skyrocketing coal prices in the international markets.
Domestic coal based thermal power plants had to step in to meet the shortfall in production, leading to a non-factor load of about 10 MT on CIL. Had this not been the case, the stock in power plants would have been around 17-18 metric tonnes instead of the now low seven metric tonnes.
During September, the generation of 2.041 MW from these plants declined by 75 per cent against the target of 8.114 MW. The production registered a negative growth of 72 per cent as compared to September 2020, when they generated 7.238 MW. Progressing till September, the contraction in production was 30 per cent compared to the same period a year ago.
Coal India Limited (CIL) contributes more than 80 percent of the domestic coal production.
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