CIL says supplies up 9%; Power Cos report low stock

KOLKATA: Coal India claims to have increased supplies to the power sector by 9% between April 1 and October 12, but increased demand for coal has forced some 11,500 MW of generation capacity to remain idle for several days. Plants with a total of 17,780 MW capacity have stocks that won’t last a day, while another set of 3,300 MW has been lying idle due to lack of power purchase agreements.
In all, 66,579 MW of generation capacities including coal fuelled, nuclear as well as gas-based power plants are shut due to a combination of reasons including fuel shortage, technical issues and planned maintenance.

According to data from Central Electricity Authority (CEA), 30 stations with a coal fired power generation capacity of 28,824 MW are faced with critical stock position, which would last between a day to seven days for each plant.

Western India is worst hit with some 4,990 MW of generation capacity shut because of coal shortage, followed by southern India at 2,495 MW.

East and north have 2,910 MW and 1,100 MW respectively. Average stocks at power plants have dipped to six days from 10 days recently.

A senior Coal India executive said the company has dispatched 84% of the coal scheduled to be sent to the power sector till October 12. The company has been dispatching 1.34 million tonnes of coal per day on an average in October.