With coal stocks running ‘critically low’, the aluminum industry has sought immediate government intervention to address the precarious situation and set aside at least 25-30 coal rakes per day for sustainable industry operations.
In a letter to Coal Secretary Anil Kumar Jain on 28 January, the Aluminum Association of India (AAI) pointed out that captive power plants of the aluminum industry could suffer an alarming reduction in coal reserves of only 3-4 days as compared to the prescribed level. were facing. 15 days.
“In order to avoid closure of aluminum industry, we aim to immediately resume the supply of coal and rakes for highly power intensive aluminum industry (CPP) and economically viable by stipulating at least 25-30 coal rakes per day. Request your intervention to normalize the precarious situation and sustainable industry operations,” the industry body has said.
Aluminum is a power intensive continuous process industry that requires uninterrupted and stable power supply, the industry association said, explaining that power outages of two hours or more result in molten aluminum in the pots, causing A plant shuts down. at least six months. Once restarted, it will take about a year to achieve the desired metal purity, leading to huge financial losses. “The CPPs of the aluminum industry are facing an alarming shortfall in coal stocks for only 3-4 days as against the prescribed level of 15 days. Even though coal availability has improved, non-availability of rakes for non-regulated sectors remains a major concern,” AAI said.
AAI said that since August 2021, the non-regulated sector was struggling to ensure that it gets uninterrupted coal supply.
“There is a backlog of over 6,000 coal rakes as most of the available coal and rakes are being diverted to the power sector as priority supply. We now understand that the power sector coal inventory position has improved significantly from 2-3 days in the months of September-October to about 10 days. 2021,” the association added.
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