According to industry experts, the government is making all efforts to stockpile coal to avoid a repeat of the power outages in April due to shortage of fossil fuels.
According to industry experts, the government is making all efforts to stockpile coal to avoid a repeat of the power outages in April due to shortage of fossil fuels.
The government has directed state-owned Coal India Limited (CIL) to be ready to import 12 million tonnes (MT) of coal for power utilities for the next 13 months.
State power generation companies (Gencos) and independent power producers have sought time till Saturday afternoon to decide how much coal they need and soon the import orders will be placed by Coal India, a source said. This will be the first time since 2015 that a Maharatna company will import dry fuel.
“The Indian government has asked Coal India to be ready to import 12 million tonnes of coal from July this year to July 2023,” the source said. A query sent to the company in this regard did not elicit any immediate response. According to industry experts, the government is making all efforts to stockpile coal to avoid a repeat of the power outages in April due to shortage of fossil fuels.
On 18 May, the power ministry had warned that defaulter Genco would have to increase its imports if coal import orders are not placed by May 31, 2022 and the imported fuel does not start arriving at power plants by June 15. . 15% limit.
Further, if the blending with domestic coal is not started by June 15, the domestic allocation to thermal power plants of the concerned defaulters will be reduced by 5%, the ministry had said in a letter to state governments and power companies including independent . Electricity Producers (IPPs).
In April, Coal Secretary AK Jain had attributed low coal stocks in power plants to several factors, such as increased power demand due to a booming economy, COVID-19, early arrival of summer, A rise in the price of gas and imported coal, and a sharp decline in power generation by coastal thermal power plants.
In April, coal shortages led to power outages in many parts of the country. He had said that several measures are already being taken to increase the total power supply in the country. “Gas-based power generation, which has come down drastically in the country, has added to the crisis,” he said.