Rajasthan, Maharashtra face power meltdown
Rajasthan and Maharashtra have around 40 per cent of their generation capacity under outage due to coal shortage. Data with the Central Electricity Authority says of the installed 32,973 megawatt (Mw) in Maharashtra, 13,555 Mw is under outage. In Rajasthan, 4,865 Mw of the installed 11,114 Mw is shut down. SHREYA JAI writes
Two of the biggest states in the country, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, have around 40 per cent of their generation capacity under outage due to coal shortage.
Data with the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) says of the installed 32,973 Mw in Maharashtra, 13,555 Mw is under outage. In Rajasthan, 4,865 Mw of the installed 11,114 Mw is shut down.
Barring a few under maintenance, major power plants in these states have mentioned “coal shortage” as the reason for the shutdown of the generating unit.
In Rajasthan, a 250 Mw unit at Chhabra, 600 Mw at Kalisindh, two units of 110 Mw each at Kota, 693 Mw at Surtagarh and 600 Mw at the Kawai thermal power station (TPS) have indicated coal shortage on the CEA website for outage. The TPS in Maharashtra which are shut due to coal shortage are Chandrapur (720 Mw), Khaparkheda (420 Mw), Koradi (210 Mw), Paras (2x250 Mw), Amravati (3x70Mw), GMR Warora (2x300 Mw), Mauda (2x500 Mw) and Solapur (600 Mw).
Officials in the ministry of coal said the supply through linkage route by Coal India is for limited number of plants in these two states. “There is shortfall of only 900 Mw in Rajasthan and 600 Mw in Maharashtra because of supply constraints by Coal India. Rest others do not have any supply linkage with Coal India,” he said.
The official further added that last week, the coal ministry along with the state designed a new coal supply contingency plan for Rajasthan, under which Coal India would supply 52,000 tonne of coal every day to the state. “Out of this, 30,000 tonne is through rail route and balance through road. The supply for the power plants associated with Coal India are on way to restoration,” said the official in the direct know.
Neither state’s energy secretary responded to calls or SMS sent to them for comment on the coal supply shortage.
Coal stocks at power plants across the country have declined to a point where they can meet the requirement for an average of only five days. The average was six days a week before.
The current average power price in the spot market is ~5.14 per unit. On Monday, the highest price quoted was ~10 a unit, a five-year peak. This is a major jump over the ~2-3 a unit which prevailed earlier, pushing the Centre to launch a drive towards a short-term power market.
Executives say states that are not signing long-term agreements are relying on the shortterm market. However, the coal supply crunch and less hydro power this year have put stress on volumes and prices in the spot market.