Amit Shah meets with power, coal ministers amid coal shortage concerns
The power consumption of 3,900 MU on October 8 was the highest this month so far—from October 1 to 9—which also became a cause of concern during the ongoing coal shortage, according to data.
Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday held a meeting with his cabinet colleagues RK Singh and Pralhad Joshi amid reports of the ongoing shortage of coal supply to power plants and several states warning of a possible power crisis. According to news agency PTI, Amit Shah, Singh, who holds the power ministry, and Joshi, who is the coal minister, discussed the availability of coal to power plants and the current power demands during the hour-long meeting. Top officials of the power and coal ministries as well as those from NTPC also attended the meeting.
Meanwhile, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said many of his counterparts have written to the Centre about the critical situation at power plants due to the coal shortage. "We all are working together to improve the situation," he said. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar also flagged the issue of probable coal shortage. "It is true there is a problem. As per our requirement, either we get it from NTPC or from private companies," Kumar told reporters. “But the supply is affected now. There are some reasons due to which such a situation has arisen. It is not only in Bihar but also everywhere,” he added.
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The power consumption of 3,900 MU on October 8 was the highest this month so far—from October 1 to 9—which also became a cause of concern during the ongoing coal shortage, according to data. The peak power demand met or the highest electricity supply in day touched 172.41 GW on October 8, data also showed. The data also showed that peak power demand met slowed to 170.03 GW on Saturday, indicating that the power demand is moderating with the onset of autumn.
This was the fallout of coal shortage at power plants in a year when the country produced record coal, but rains hit movement of the fuel from mines to power generation units, impacting electricity production in several states, including Gujarat, Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi and Tamil Nadu. Power plants, which used imported coal to generate electricity, have either curtailed generation or completely stopped as a spurt in international energy prices has made it difficult for them to meet the commitments to states at a particular rate.
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The ministry of coal and Coal Indian Limited (CIL) have assured that they are making best efforts to increase dispatch to the power sector to 1.6 MT per day in the next three days and thereafter, try to touch 1.7 MT per day. It is likely to help in a gradual build-up of coal stocks at power plants in the near future. The coal supply as well as the consequent power situation is likely to improve. "It was noted that on 7th October 2021 total dispatch of coal by Coal India Limited (CIL) touched 1.501 MT, thereby reducing the gap between consumption and actual supply,” the ministry of power said in a statement on Saturday.
The latest data of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) showed that coal stocks at power plants on October 7 were not adequate as 16 plants with a cumulative capacity of 16,880MW had the dry fuel for zero days. As many as 30 plants with 37,345MW capacity had coal for just one day and 18 plants with 23,450MW capacity had coal for two days as of October 7. There were 19 plants with 29,160MW capacity which had coal for three days and nine plants with 7,864MW capacity had coal for four days. Six plants with 6,730MW capacity had coal stock for five days and 10 plants with 11,540MW capacity had coal for six days.
(With agency inputs)
