Govt to ask power firms to increase coal import

MINISTRY HAS PROJECTED THAT IN THE COMING MONTHS, THE PEAK ELECTRICITY WILL RANGE BETWEEN 215,000-220,000 MW

NEW DELHI: Anticipating at least two more surges in peak power demand across the country due to raging temperatures, the power ministry is planning to push for coal imports and will also ask generation companies (gencos) to use roadways for coal transport along with trains, said a senior official of the ministry familiar with the matter.

In another step to increase electricity generation, the ministry is also planning to activate non-operational coal fired plants, the ministry official said on Monday.

“Analysing previous year’s data and in view of the predictions of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), we are projecting the power demand to peak again maximum twice — in July when temperatures rise again and in September, when humidity increases due to the monsoons. However, it will totally depend on the weather conditions, so we can just make projections,” said the official, asking not to be named.

A peak power demand of 200,570 MW was recorded on July 7, 2021. This year, that record broke way ahead when demand reached 207,111 MW on April 29 due to an earlier-thanexpected heatwave that gripped the country last month, sending temperatures in April across northern and central India to the highest in about 122 years.

But, the ministry has projected that even this record will be broken in coming months with the peak demand ranging between 215,000-220,000 MW.

According to the official, the ministry is first trying to resolve issues in transporting coal.

The railways has already increased its average daily loading of coal cargo trains to over 400 every day, the highest in five years. “But, still it is turning out to be less. It is also working on repairing damaged wagons and finding other ways to increase rakes. However, railways alone cannot take the entire load. So, we are also asking gencos to simultaneously transport coal through roadways rather than just waiting for train rakes,” said a second power ministry official.

“Next, the ministry is also considering conducting bulk auctions for states. For this, we are planning to aggregate the demand projections from all the states and UTS,” said the official.

The ministry is also pushing gencos for importing coal, in view of the constraints in domestic coal supply. “The states were advised to place orders for import of coal for blending purposes so additional coal reaches power plants from the month of May itself,” the official added.

As per CEA data, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have placed orders for the import of coal, while Punjab and Gujarat are in the advanced stage of finalising tenders. Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh are in the process of issuing the tenders, while Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand have not yet issued tenders.