Mumbai, April 27 (FN Agency) Rising demand for electricity and non-availability of coal for power generation has left nearly 12 states in India reeling under severe power crisis in the past two-three weeks, which is likely to worsen amid soaring temperatures, industry experts said. According to data shared by the Ministry of Power, India recorded an all time high peak power demand of 201.066 GW yesterday, even as the coal shortage continued with more than 80 power plants having critically low stock which has impacted electricity generation across the country. “India has an installed capacity of 399 GW, out of which nearly 60000 MW of capacity is shut due to various reasons. Yet, we are unable to meet the rising demand for power as the availability of coal at nearly 105 plants across the country have reached critical levels. Most of these plants have stocks available only for five-seven days,” All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) Chairman Shailendra Dubey told UNI. He further said West Bengal and Karnataka have coal stock availability of five days and seven days, respectively, followed by Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat with 11 days inventory, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra with 14 days and Uttar Pradesh with 19 days stock. According to India Ratings, the generation of ultra mega power plants with 8.6 GW of capacity fell by 51 per cent year-on-year in March 2022 and by around 22 per cent year-on-year for 25 days in April 2022, which was largely due to coal shortage.
“The non-availability of coal at this critical juncture is the result of lack of coordination between the ministries of coal, power and railways. While on one hand the government and Coal India are claiming that the production has increased by 14.5 per cent, but in reality the situation at the power plants is grim and will worsen during the months of May and June, the peak of summer,” Dubey added. Recently, the Ministry of Power had asked state as well as private electricity generation companies (gencos) to purchase freight rakes, in addition to those being augmented and supplied by the Centre, to tackle the supply crisis. Even the Ministry of Railways had said that it has ramped up coal transportation, which has resulted in 32 per cent more coal freight loading between September 2021 and March 2022. Speaking to UNI India Ratings and Research Associate Director Nitin Bansal said though the domestic coal output has increased over the last year and its allocation has also increased to the power sector, this is not sufficient to meet the entire requirement.
“A part of the demand is also met through imported coal, the imports of which have been lower than required due to high international coal prices due to which the import based thermal power plants are running at nil or lower capacities. Also, domestic coal output has limitations to increase in a short span along with challenges faced in the logistics, hence the coal availability can only improve with time,” he said. Bansal added that given the country is at the onset of summer, the situation is likely to remain challenging in the short term. “Hence in view of the high demand and low coal availability to meet the demand, power outages are high,” he noted. Dubey further said the association has urged the government to ensure close monitoring and coordination between the ministries to tackle the power crisis.