NEW DELHI: The coal park of 57 thermal power plants, which account for approximately 21% of the country’s total generation capacity, has become “critical” or “super critical” amid rising electricity demand. which has caused the energy ministry to regulate for a week the supply of fuel to plants that have stocks for 14 days so that inventories can be accumulated in the units they are facing.
Central Electricity Authority documents show five plants with ‘zero’ coal stock and operating on daily supplies. Six plants have a daily buffer stock, while 15 plants have inventories for three days, 13 plants for four days, four plants for five days, three stations for six days and two units have stocks to last a week. Industry executives blame low fuel stocks for poor supply and lack of advance planning in anticipation of rising energy demand. But Coal India Ltd, which accounts for 80% of domestic production, blamed the reduced inventories on generators that ignored their advice given since October 2020 to stock up on summer and monsoon when demand of electricity increases.
A CIL executive told TOI that the company supplied 196.6 tonnes (millions of tonnes) of coal to the electricity sector during the April-August period, or 6.5% more than 184 tonnes in the same period. pre-pandemic of 2019. “it was 24 tonnes at the end of July, almost at the same level as the shares of the previous five years. It could have been higher if the generators had not regulated the catchment,” the executive said. .
The arguments indicate that no one was prepared for the sharp rise in energy demand or put too much emphasis on renewable energy. Energy demand increased by 8% and 12% in the third and fourth quarters of 2020-21 and continues, jumping 18% in July. As a result, the average plant load factor of thermal plants has also increased by over 60% from close to 52%, as idel production fell.
Power Secretary Alok Kumar set up a basic management committee with representatives from the Ministry of Power, CEA and CIL to monitor the situation on a daily basis. In a ministry statement, power plants were asked to send requests for priority loading or supply issues to a centralized email identifier so that they can be resolved quickly.
I’ll see The coal stock of 57 thermal power plants is “critical” amid rising electricity demand.
Central Electricity Authority documents show five plants with ‘zero’ coal stock and operating on daily supplies. Six plants have a daily buffer stock, while 15 plants have inventories for three days, 13 plants for four days, four plants for five days, three stations for six days and two units have stocks to last a week. Industry executives blame low fuel stocks for poor supply and lack of advance planning in anticipation of rising energy demand. But Coal India Ltd, which accounts for 80% of domestic production, blamed the reduced inventories on generators that ignored their advice given since October 2020 to stock up on summer and monsoon when demand of electricity increases.
A CIL executive told TOI that the company supplied 196.6 tonnes (millions of tonnes) of coal to the electricity sector during the April-August period, or 6.5% more than 184 tonnes in the same period. pre-pandemic of 2019. “it was 24 tonnes at the end of July, almost at the same level as the shares of the previous five years. It could have been higher if the generators had not regulated the catchment,” the executive said. .
The arguments indicate that no one was prepared for the sharp rise in energy demand or put too much emphasis on renewable energy. Energy demand increased by 8% and 12% in the third and fourth quarters of 2020-21 and continues, jumping 18% in July. As a result, the average plant load factor of thermal plants has also increased by over 60% from close to 52%, as idel production fell.
Power Secretary Alok Kumar set up a basic management committee with representatives from the Ministry of Power, CEA and CIL to monitor the situation on a daily basis. In a ministry statement, power plants were asked to send requests for priority loading or supply issues to a centralized email identifier so that they can be resolved quickly.
I’ll see The coal stock of 57 thermal power plants is “critical” amid rising electricity demand.