An energy crisis is looming in some states, including Delhi and Punjab, due to a combination of factors including, excess rainfall hitting coal movement and imported coal-based power plants generating less than half of their capacity due to record high rates.
In a year when the country produced record coal, rains hit movement of the fuel from mines to power generation units, impacting power generation in many states, including Gujarat, Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi and Tamil Nadu.
While power producers and distributors have warned of blackouts as generation units are running with coal stocks of as low as two days, the Coal Ministry said the country has adequate coal stocks and low inventory does not mean generation will stop as stocks are being continuously replenished.
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.
Tata Power, which has signed contracts to supply 1,850 MW of electricity to Gujarat, 475 MW to Punjab, 380 MW to Rajasthan, 760 MW to Maharashtra and 380 MW to Haryana from its imported coal-based power plant at Mundra in Gujarat, has stopped generation.
Power plants across the country regulated generation after stock ran low. Against the requirement of maintaining 15 days to 30 days of stocks, over half of the country’s 135 coal-fired power plants, which in total supply around 70 per cent of the nation’s electricity, have fuel stocks of less than two days, as per the data from the grid operator.
The Coal Ministry, however, said the stocks being reported by power plants are rolling stock, which means stocks are being replenished on a day by day basis.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over “a power crisis” Delhi could face. “I am personally keeping a close watch over the situation. We are trying our best to avoid it,” Kejriwal said.
The crisis facing states has been in the making for months. As India’s economy picked up after a deadly second wave of Covid-19, demand for power rose sharply. Electricity consumption has jumped almost 17 per cent in the last two months alone when compared to the same period in 2019.
