BS reported that the Indian government might have announced diversion of spot market coal to bridge the supply shortages for long term consumers in the power sector, but experts see the move as grossly inadequate.
As coal shortage has touched unprecedented levels, coal stock position at power stations has gone from bad to worse forcing the power industry to brace itself for a possible closure of some units.
According to Central Electricity Authority, a host of issues including heavy rains disrupting coal supply, workers’ strike at largest producer Coal India and Telangana agitation in the South have snapped fuel supply at power stations over the past month. More than half of the country's 86 thermal power stations are currently running at critical stocks of less than seven days, while more than a third of the plants have become super critical. The crisis has even made short term power prices and volumes at the exchanges go haywire.
Mr Rajesh Mediretta SVP for business development at India Energy Exchange said "The average power tariff has increased to around INR 7 to INR 7.50 per unit, from INR 2.5 to INR 3.5 about 20 days back, due to mismatch in demand and supply. The traded volume in the exchange has come down to 35,000 MW per hour from 100,000 MW per hour on a daily basis."
Coal stock at power stations
| Power station | Capacity | Daily coal required | Normative stock required | Actual stock |
| Badarpur | 705 | 12.3 | 30 | 1 |
| Chhabra | 500 | 6.2 | 30 | 0 |
| Singrauli | 2,000 | 31.6 | 15 | 0 |
| Sipat | 1,660 | 16.8 | 20 | 3 |
| Khaparkheda | 1,340 | 15.1 | 25 | 1 |
| Tuticorin | 1,050 | 17.9 | 30 | 1 |
| Kahalgaon | 2,340 | 39.1 | 15 | 1 |
Capacity in MW
Daily coal required in '000 tonnes
Normative stock required in days
Actual stock in days
Mr Anil Razdan power secretary said that "This is surely one of the most critical situations that we have faced ever. The lesson to learn is that we cannot leave the coal production program entirely in the hands of a monopoly. The current crisis is probably the most unprecedented scenario ever. I have not seen supply for power plants being hurt to such an extent in the past many years."
Mr Shubhranshu Patnaik senior director at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu said that "The quantity to be diverted from e auction would be a major issue. Making available only a part of 4 million tonnes quantity from the spot market would not make a huge difference. It cannot be a sustainable long term strategy."
He also added that another issue with the coal ministry's formula of diverting e auction coal was logistics. He said that "Coal sold through auction is not spread across the country. It is not made available subsidiary wise. Transporting this coal from one region where the mine is located to another region where a plant is situated would become a problem."
Coal minister Mr Prakash Jaiswal, who has chaired multiple urgent meetings with coal ministry officials and chairmen of Coal India, said that subsidiary companies in the past one week assured of making supplies available. He added that "Production and off take has been less than target in the past two months. Mahanadi Coalfields and Northern Coalfields are among the major defaulters. But I have been assured the situation is only temporary and will improve soon."
(Sourced from BS)
