CIL ramps up production to improve supplies
Coal India (CIL), which is facing shortages in supplies to thermal power stations, has said it has stepped up despatches to the electricity sector in the first eight days of September, clocking around 20 per cent growth at an average of 1.39 million tonnes (MTS) per day.
Coal India Ltd (CIL), which is facing shortages in supplies to thermal power stations, has said it has stepped up despatches to the electricity sector in the first eight days of September, clocking around 20 per cent growth at an average of 1.39 million tonnes (MTS) per day.
In the equivalent period in September last year, the average supplies per day were 1.16 MTS.
CIL’S supplies to industry also logged 1.71 MTS per day during the first eight days in September against
1.49 MTS per day last year, achieving a growth rate of nearly 15 per cent, said the company in a statement.
“We are aiming to augment supplies further to 1.8 MTS per day consistently and 1.45 MTS per day to the power sector,” said a senior official of the company.
Over the last two weeks, coal stocks at thermal units have dwindled. Currently, 15 Gw of power generation has fewer than two days of stocks and for 11 Gw it is fewer than six days.
As several states have defaulted on their payments during the peak summer months, CIL regulated supplies to their thermal power units. With a delayed and scattered monsoon, production was affected July onwards. This led to a situation when close to 90 Gw of power generation capacity faced stocks of fewer than eight days during the last week of August. CIL last week said it offered coal on an “as is where” basis in rail-cum-road mode from 23 such mines with 40.3 million tonnes.
CIL said it had logged 42 per cent growth in e-auction bookings during April-august.
This it said is on the back of a demand spike in coalbased power generation and soaring international coal prices, compared to the similar period a year ago.
“The booked volume during the ongoing fiscal year, till August, is also more than a two-fold increase compared to nearly 20 MTS over the pre pandemic April-august 2019,” said the company. CIL booked 53.3 MTS of coal in the first five months of FY22 under the five auction categories.