Power situation fine, no scarcity: Minister
It is not only buying power at a whopping ₹11.8 per unit, but also missed an opportunity to sell electricity to grid
This panic was unnecessarily created... We have an average coal reserve that can last for more than 4 days RK SINGH, Union power minister
Union Power Minister said there isn’t any coal crisis... I request the Centre to acknowledge this crisis... It can impact industries MANISH SISODIA, Delhi deputy CM
NEW DELHI: Fears of a power crisis in India are overblown as there are sufficient coal reserves to produce electricity, the central government assured on Sunday, a day after Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, voicing concern that there could be outages in the national capital.
“Any fear of disruption in power supply is entirely misplaced,” the power ministry said in a statement. “The coal stock at power plant is sufficient for more than 4 days’ requirement and as the coal supply is being ramped up by CIL (Coal India Ltd), the coal stock at power plants would gradually improve.”
Reports earlier said that over half of 135 coal-fired utilities, which supply more than half of India’s electricity, have fuel inventory to last just under three days.
“This panic was unnecessarily created without any reason,” power minister RK Singh told ANI news agency.
On Saturday, Kejriwal said Delhi could face power outages if the central government did not quickly resolve the coal shortage at power plants.
He sought the intervention of the Prime Minister to resolve the crisis.
Power minister Singh has directed that distribution companies in Delhi will get as much power as they require, his ministry said on Sunday.
“The ministry of coal reassures that ample coal is available in the country to meet the demand of power plants,” the coal ministry said in a statement.
PATIALA: The Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) is itself to blame for the persisting coal crisis in power plants in the state as it failed to adhere to the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) norms on maintaining minimum fuel reserves, people familiar with the situation said.
As a result, the corporation is not only buying power at a whopping Rs 11.80 per unit, but it also missed an opportunity to sell electricity to the national grid in October.
A power engineer dealing with coal procurement said, “The corporation management didn’t pay heed to our advice to build coal stock as per the guidelines, saying the demand will dip in the wake of the Covid-19 third wave. But the demand went up against their expectations.”
As per figures, the state-run Ropar thermal plant on June 1, 2019 had coal stock for 48 days against 23 days on the corresponding day this year. Similar was the situation at the Lehra Mohabbat plant. Similarly, the private thermal plants didn’t adhere to the guidelines on maintaining coal stocks.
As per the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission guidelines, the power plants in Punjab have to ensure a minimum stock of 30 days, as all of them are located over a distance of 1,500 km from coal mines.
The private sector plants had no stock as they as keep limited reserves to cut their expenditure on an increasing inventory.
The PSPCL in the past has maintained sufficient stock and earned profits by selling power to the grid. In a year before the Covid-19 outbreak, the state sold power worth Rs 1,183 crore to the grid mostly in September and October when electricity prices remain high. The management was already aware that a 660 megawatt (MW) unit of the Talwandi Sabo plant was operational and it had to meet coal demand of their own plants, but they didn’t maintain stock for at least 40 days, said another power engineer.
PSPCL chairman-cum-managing director (CMD) A Venu
Prasad admitted that the corporation is facing an acute coal shortage in all plants across the State. “All the private plants in the state have coal stock for oneand-a-half days while the stateowned plants have about 4 days of reserves. Yesterday, 11 coal rakes were received against the requirement of 22 rakes. Due to depleted coal stock, these plants are operating at less than 50% of their generation capacity. The demand of agriculture sector is still persisting due to delayed transplantation of paddy,” he said.
The situation, he claimed, will improve after October 15 as more stock will arrive.