States across the country are grappling with shortages, with Delhi saying that some power plants in the Capital have only a day’s worth of coal left. Jharkhand and Odisha, known to be coal-rich, are also struggling
Several states are reporting acute shortages of coal. Data shows that as of 26 April, India had coal stocks at 21.44 million tonnes, 32 per cent of the required inventory. AFP
It’s really, really hot and the hours-long outages in multiple states across India isn’t helping the situation.
Residents of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh are all sweltering in the heat as they face rising temperatures and no electricity.
Powers plants across the country are struggling to keep up with the rising demand of electricity as they struggle with acute coal shortages. The situation is eerily similar to what occurred five months ago when India saw a power crisis in October 2021.
We take a look at the ongoing coal crisis and what the government is doing to course correct.
SOS for coal
Several states are reporting acute shortages of coal, with Delhi power minister Satyendar Jain saying that in many places there’s just one day of coal left when they should have at least 21 days of reserve coal.
He was quoted as saying, “Due to disruption of power supply from Dadri-II and Unchahar power stations, there may be a problem in 24-hours power supply to many essential institutions, including Delhi Metro and Delhi government hospitals,” adding that 25-30 per cent of the electricity demand in Delhi was being met through these power stations, and they face a shortage of coal.
The Dadri-II, Unchahar, Kahalgaon, Farakka and Jhajjar power plants supply 1,751 megawatt (MW) of electricity per day to Delhi. The capital gets the maximum supply of 728 MW from Dadri-II power station, while it receives 100 MW from the Unchahar station.
According to the daily coal report of the National Power Portal, all these power plants face an acute shortage of coal.
In Punjab too, the situation was ominous — two units each of the Ropar and Talwandi Sabo thermal plants have been shut, while one unit of Goindwal Sahib thermal plant has also been closed down owing to coal shortages.
Odisha and Jharkhand, the two most coal-rich states in India, are also struggling with shortages. In Jharkhand, the state-owned power Tenughat Thermal Power Station had just 17.6 MT coal that could last three days on 26 April.
In Uttar Pradesh, the situation is no better with data from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) showing that 11 out of the 13 coal-fired power plants in the state have turned ‘critical’ as of 25 April with less than 25 per cent of normative coal stock. Of the 13, four are state plants while nine are run by the private sector.
Financial Express reported that the 13 plants, with a generation capacity of 12,939 MW, are required to have a normative coal stock of 4,140.7 thousand tonne (TT). But as on 25 April, they had a stock of only 677.7 TT, which is only 32 per cent of the normative requirement.
CEA data revealed that of the four state-owned Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam (UPRVUN) thermal plants, which have an installed capacity of 6,129 megawatts, have only 19 per cent of actual coal stocks vis-a-vis the normative stock.
Of the four, three have coal stocks at “critical” levels (below 25 per cent). While Anpara thermal power plant, the only pithead plant of UPRVUN, had 37 per cent of the normative coal reserves, Harduaganj, Obra, and Parichha had merely 13 per cent, 16 per cent, and 5 per cent, respectively.
CEA data shows that as of 26 April, India had coal stocks at 21.44 million tonnes, 32 per cent of the required inventory of 66.32 million tonnes. Moreover, of the 150 coal power plants that use domestic coal, 85 have a critical level of coal stock, which is less than 25 per cent of the required stock. Coal shortage is also an issue in 12 of the 15 plants using imported coal.
Also read: How coal shortages and soaring temperatures have left India with a power problem
Blackouts!
The coal shortage has led to extreme power outages across the country with some states recording three-four-hour-long blackouts.
Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Andhra, Odisha are all reporting deficit of power vis-a-vis power consumption.
This is being attributed to the shortages of coal and the increased demand for power in light of the soaring mercury levels.
Solution to crisis
To bring the power crisis under control in many states, Indian Railways has cancelled nearly 42 passenger trains across India on Friday.
Railway officials informed that these trains have been cancelled until further notice to tackle critically low stocks at power plants amid blackouts in several states.
“The move (to cancel trains) is temporary and passenger services will be restored as soon as the situation normalises,” Gaurav Krishna Bansal, an executive director at Indian Railways, told Bloomberg.
The Railways has also planned to add 100,000 more wagons to its fleet to meet the growing demand. It is also constructing dedicated freight corridors to deliver goods faster.
Besides this, the Centre, as per an NDTV report, has asked states to step up their imports for the next three years to build up inventories.
With inputs from agencies
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