Amidst concerns of power blackouts, PMO likely to review coal supply situation today
New Delhi, Oct 12: The Prime Minister's Office is likely to review the coal supply situation today. The development comes in the wake of concerns being expressed over power blackouts.
On Monday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a meeting with Power Minister R.K. Singh and Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi amid reports of the ongoing coal shortage in the country, officials said.During the hour-long meeting, the three Ministers were believed to have discussed the availability of coal to power plants and the current power demands. Top officials of the power and coal ministries attended the meeting, PTI reported.
The meeting came in the wake of several States warning of a possible power crisis due to the shortage of coal supply to power plants, officials said.
According to the data, 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. On Saturday, Tata Power arm Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd (DDL), which operates in North and Northwest Delhi, had sent phone messages to its consumers saying, "Due to limited coal availability in generation plants across the north, power supply scenario between 2-6 pm is at critical level. Kindly use electricity judiciously. Be a responsible citizen. Inconvenience caused is regretted - Tata Power-DDL." 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 many states, including Gujarat, Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi and Tamil Nadu.
Another
factor
that
has
contributed
to
the
present
crisis
is
power
plants,
that
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.
The
Ministry
of
Power
in
a
statement
issued
on
Saturday
had
said,
"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
Coal
and
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
gradual
build
up
of
coal
stocks
at
power
plants
in
the
near
future.
The
coal
supply
as
well
as
consequent
power
situation
is
likely
to
improve.
According to the data, the peak power demand met or the highest electricity supply in day touched 172.41 GW on October 8. This is the highest peak power demand met from October 1 to 9. The data also showed that peak power demand met slowed to 170.03 GW on Saturday, October 9, indicating that the power demand is moderating with the onset of autumn. The latest available data of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) showed that coal stocks at power plants on October 7 were not adequate as there were 16 plants with a cumulative capacity of 16,880 MW which had the dry fuel for zero days.
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Besides, as many as 30 plants with 37,345 MW capacity had coal for just one day and 18 plants with 23,450 MW capacity had coal for two days as of October 7.
There were 19 plants with 29,160 MW capacity which had coal for three days and nine plants with 7,864MW capacity had coal for four days.
(With PTI inputs)