Ample supply of coal, fears of power supply disruption unfounded: Ministry

The Union ministry of coal said there was a stock of about 72 lakh tonnes, which was sufficient for four days. Also, Coal India Limited (CIL) has more than 400 lakh tonnes of stock, which is being supplied to the power plants.

Amid concerns over coal shortage that may severely affect power supply in certain parts of the country, the Centre said on Sunday there was ample supply of the mineral to meet all demands and fears of electricity disruption were entirely misplaced.

Representational image. (HT_PRINT-prepub)

In a statement, the Union ministry of coal said there was a stock of about 72 lakh tonnes, which was sufficient for four days. Also, Coal India Limited (CIL) has more than 400 lakh tonnes of stock, which is being supplied to the power plants.

At the same time, Union coal minister Pralhad Joshi said there was absolutely no threat of disruption in power supply. “There is sufficient coal stock of 43 million tonnes with Coal India Ltd equivalent to 24 days of coal demand,” he added.

Earlier, Union power minister RK Singh hit out at companies that sent “baseless SMSs” to customers and created panic about a power crisis and warned that such acts would be treated as instances of “irresponsible behaviour”.

The ministry said the domestic coal-based power generation has grown by nearly 24 per cent this year (till September 2021) based on a robust supply from the coal companies. The daily average coal requirement at the power plants was about 18.5 lakh tonnes of coal per day, while the daily coal supply had been around 17.5 lakh tonnes, it said.

The ministry further said there were constraints in despatches due to the extended monsoons. Coal available at the power plants is a rolling stock which gets replenished by supplies from companies on a daily basis.

“Therefore, any fear of coal stocks depleting at the power plant end is erroneous. In fact this year, domestic coal supply has substituted imports by a substantial measure,” the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry also said that despite heavy rainfall in the coalfield areas, the CIL had supplied more than 255 MT coal to the power sector this year, which is the highest ever H-1 supply from CIL to the power sector.

“Out of the total coal supply from all sources, present coal supply from CIL to power sector is more than 14 lakh tonnes per day and with the receding rains, this supply has already increased to 15 lakh tonnes and is set to increase to more than 16 lakh tonnes per day by the end of October 2021. The supply from SCCL and captive coal blocks shall contribute to another 3 lakh plus tonnes of coal every day,” the statement read.

Stating that coal supplies were likely to set a record high in the current financial year, the ministry said, “Domestic coal supplies have supported power generation in a major way despite heavy monsoons, low coal imports and a steep hike in power demand due to economic recovery.”

Due to high international prices of coal, supply of power even under PPAs by import based power plants has reduced by almost 30 per cent, while domestic-based power supply has gone up nearly 24 per cent in the first half of the year. The imported coal-based power plants have generated about 25.6 BU against a programme of 45.7 BU.

It may be noted that the comfortable coal position in the country is reflected by the fact that the CIL has been supplying more than 2.5 lakh tonnes (approximately) daily to meet the demand of non power industries like aluminum, cement, steel along with supply of coal to thermal plants of the country.