Country is staring at a coal crisis and things are starting to look grim in the national capital and the rest of the country, the Union ministry of power has listed four reasons for the depletion of coal stocks.
As per the release by the Ministry of Power “There are four reasons for the depletion of coal stocks at the power plant end unprecedented increase in demand for electricity due to the revival of the economy; heavy rains in coal mine areas during September 2021 thereby adversely affecting the coal production as well as despatch of coal from mines; increase in prices of imported coal to unprecedented high level leading to a substantial reduction in power generation from imported coal-based power plants leading to more dependence on domestic coal; non-building of adequate coal stocks before the onset of Monsoon,”
The Ministry of Power constituted a Core Management Team (CMT) on August 27, in order to manage the coal stock and ensure equitable distribution of Coal. The team comprises representatives from MOP, CEA, POSOCO, Railways and Coal India Limited (CIL) to ensure daily monitoring. The CMT is closely monitoring and managing the coal stocks on daily basis and ensuring follow-up actions .
The Power Ministry revealed that a surge in the revival of the economy after the second wave of COVID-19 led to an unprecedented increase in demand and consumption of electricity.
“The daily consumption of electricity has crossed beyond 4 Billion units per day and 65 per cent to 70 per cent of the demand is being met by coal-fired power generation only, thereby increasing dependence on coal,” it said.
The Ministry of Power has issued guidelines on October 8 for operationalising optimum utilization of generating stations as per the requirements in the electricity grid. These guidelines will enable imported coal-based plants (having sufficient coal) to operate and ease out the burden on domestic coal.
