Coal shortage will continue to hit power sector

YOGINDRA MOHAN
Patiala

The coal shortage will continue to hit generation. The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) reports indicate that the coal stocks at thermal plants have not improved after rains and workers’ strike in August and September. Now at the beginning of December, as many as 31 thermal plants in the country have coal stock of less than four days and come under super critical category. As many as 52 of 89 thermal plants being monitored by CEA have less than a week’s coal stock. The demand for coal is rising by about 8.0 per cent per annum but coal output which was expanding at about 7.0 per cent has now become stagnant. The domestic coal production was originally targeted to reach 680 million tonnes (MT) in 11th plan is now expected to be only 554 MT.

Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal had said last week that Coal India Limited (CIL) could not meet the requirements of the power companies.“A large number of power plants are coming in the country. We cannot meet the increased coal demand of the power companies,” he had said, adding that some of the power stations do not have adequate stocks of coal. He had advised the power companies to import coal considering their rising demand. As per approach paper to 12th plan period, given the strong growth in thermal generation projected, the aggregate demand for coal at the end of the 12th plan is likely to be between 900 MT and 1000 MT. The domestic output is unlikely to exceed 750 MT, leaving more than 200 MT shortfalls to be met from imports. The domestic output will be able to increase by over 200 MT from current expected level of 554MT. Even with the best effort at increasing domestic production it will not

be possible to meet the increased demand for coal from domestic production. The coal imports are expected to rise from about 90 million tonnes to over 200 million tonnes by 2016-17. The cost of imported coal is a major hurdle and generating companies are not too willing to import coal. India’s thermal power producing companies are on the verge of production cuts as the Coal stocks are below critical levels. Meanwhile, Coal India Limited (CIL) has lowered production target for the ongoing financial year to at least 440 million tonnes (MT) from the estimate of 452 MT in its annual plan. The public sector firm also was planning to mine between 556 MT and 615 MT of coal in the terminal year

of the 12th Five-Year Plan, 2012-17.