Coal ministry rules out shortage of coal during monsoon season

Posted on 23 Apr 2018

India’s coal secretary Susheel Kumar said that coal ministry will leave no stone unturned to meet demands of power plants during the upcoming monsoon season. Kumar ruled out the possibility of any coal shortage during the season.

He said Coal India currently has a pithead stock of about 55 million tonnes (Mt), while power plants have a cumulative stock of about 16.5-Mt. The coal major is planning to push the power plant stock levels to 30 Mt and efforts are underway.

“Already we have adequate coal with us and there is a plan which has been prepared for this year’s production and supply,” the secretary said.

However, he cautioned that power plants need to lift their requirement in time to avoid any shortage which was seen last year after the monsoon season.

The secretary said the coal ministry and the power ministry are jointly monitoring the coal stocks. The situation last year was different as power plants had regulated their intake owing to low demand for power. This time power plants will not regulate from their end as demand for power of late has picked up significantly.

Coal ministry sources said that it is well prepared to face the surging demands this time since it is having adequate stocks piled up.

Central Electricity Authority data show that about 23 coal-based power plants were battling critical fuel supply as on April 22, 2018. Nine of these plants had critical stock levels to last less than seven days, while the remaining plants had super critical stock levels to last less than 4 days.

An individual power plant is supposed to have about 21 days of coal stock with it ideally for its smooth functioning.