Shah holds meet as more States voice blackout fear

| | New Delhi
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Shah holds meet as more States voice blackout fear

Tuesday, 12 October 2021 | Rajesh Kumar | New Delhi

After Guj, Punjab, Raj, Delhi and TN, Bihar and Kerala too admit shortage of coal at power plants

With Bihar and Kerala also flagging the issue of coal shortage triggering fears of power crisis, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday held a high-level meeting with Union Power Minister RK Singh and Coal Minister Prahlad Joshi to take stock of the situation.

Shah’s meeting with his Cabinet colleagues comes a day after the Union Power Minister on Sunday assured that there is “no threat of disruption” in power supply after States like Delhi, Rajasthan, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh expressed concerns over the shortage of coal supply to thermal power plants. India’s coal-fired power stations had an average of four days’ stock at the end of September, the lowest in years.

Sources said three Ministers reported to have discussed the availability of coal to power plants and the current power demands during the hour-long meeting. Officials made a presentation on the demand and supply of coal. Power consumption of 3,900 mega units in October was the highest for month so far.

Sources said officials also informed Shah about a pre-bid conference for prospective bidders for the sale of 11 coal mines. Senior officials of ministries of coal and power and  NTPC officials were present at the meeting.

After Gujarat, Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi, and Tamil Nadu, now Bihar and Kerala too have admitted that they are facing a shortage of coal at their thermal power plants, forcing them to purchase electricity at exorbitant prices or resort to power cuts.

“It is true there is a problem. As per our requirement, either we get it from NTPC or from private companies. But, the supply is affected now. There are some reasons due to which such situation has arisen. It’s not only in Bihar, it’s everywhere,” Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said on Monday.

Meanwhile, Kerala will decide on October 19 whether or not to impose power cuts to mitigate the problem.

“The Kerala Government will take a decision on imposing power cuts after October 19. At present, the state is facing a shortage of 100 MW and is trying to meet the demand-supply gap through the automated management system, and by purchasing electricity at higher prices,” the State Power Minister K Krishnankutty said.

Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) announced on its social media handle that many areas will have power cuts on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, former coal secretary Anil Swarup on Monday tweeted that Coal India Limited was without CMD for a year.

He further said Coal India Limited had reserves of over Rs 40,000 crore in 2015. Now around Rs 10,000 crore. It was trading at Rs 400 in 2016. Now below Rs 200.

According to officials,  October has always been a tough month for power generation companies, given that the annual all-India electricity peak demand is recorded during that month.

Besides, there are reasons why this October is different. The Ministry of Power has ascribed four reasons for the depletion of coal stocks at the power plants - the unprecedented increase in demand for electricity due to revival of the economy, heavy rains in coal mine areas during September impacting production as well as despatch, increase in prices of imported coal to unprecedented high level leading to a substantial reduction in power generation from imported coal-based power plants, and non-building of adequate coal stocks before the onset of monsoon. Besides the devastating second Covid wave impacted mining operations as well.

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. According to data provided, currently, there are 16 plants with a cumulative capacity of 16,880 MW that had the dry fuel for zero-days, 30 plants with 37,345 MW capacity had coal for just one day, 18 plants with 23,450 MW capacity had coal for two days as of October 7.

Furthermore, there were 19 plants with 29,160 MW capacity which had coal for three days, nine plants with 7,864MW capacity had coal for four days, Six plants with 6,730 MW capacity had coal stock for five days, while 10 plants with 11,540 MW capacity had coal for six days, as per data provided.

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