Coal India accounts for over 80% of domestic coal production.
Coal India accounts for over 80% of domestic coal production.
The country’s biggest coal producer and supplier, CIL, said on Tuesday it increased shipments to coal-based power generation assets by 14.2% in the first half of the current month, but power demand appears to be picking up due to the hotter-than-average summer provided the surge of supplies in the shadows.
Coal India (CIL) said it was coordinating with the Ministries of Coal, Energy and Railways to build up stocks at power stations in a synergistic effort after coal stocks at power stations fell.
“Amid the rapid power generation, CIL increased its shipments to thermal power plants by 14.2% in the first half of April 22 compared to the same period in April,” the Maharatna company said.
CIL shipments have reached 1.6 million tonnes (MT) per day for the period, up from 1.43 MT for the similar period in April FY21.
PSU had ramped up production to 26.4t in the first half of April, posting 27% year-on-year growth.
“The company is heading for its highest April production ever. The increase in production was 5.7 tons in terms of volume,” it said.
The company’s deliveries are on the rise so far. The pressure would ease as imported coal plants meet their required imports set for the year, she added.
To bridge the strong demand, CIL has made available an additional 8.75t of coal for state and central Gencos to mine in rail-cum-road (RCR) mode through May 31st. Of this, 3.25 MT is the unmined amount of the previous coal round of the RCR bid and 5.5 MT is the new bid.
However, rising electricity demand, driven by the post-pandemic economic recovery and the hotter-than-average summer, appears to be dwarfing the increase in supply, the PSU said.
Mercury levels have risen above 41 degrees Celsius in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
The Department of Earth Sciences has categorized the heatwave status in these northern states. The maximum deviation from normal temperature is from 4.8 degrees to 6.2 degrees.
The country’s total electricity generation averaged 4.53 billion units (BU) through April 15, up 9.5% from the same period last year.
The increase was 400 million units per day over the average production of 4.13 BU for the comparable period.
“Electricity generation from coal climbed to an average of 3.5 BUs per day for the two weeks in April 22, up 9.4% from last April’s average of 3.2 BUs for the same period,” it said.
The increase of 300 million units produced per day also includes imported coal. The majority, however, was fueled by CIL’s supplies.
Sequentially, coal-based generation growth over the period is 5.4% higher than the average of 3.32 BU for the entire month of March.
International coal prices have been at a boiling point in recent months with no sign of slowing down. This puts the focus on domestic coal producers with CIL.
Coal India accounts for over 80% of domestic coal production.
According to the latest Central Electricity Authority (CEA) daily coal stocks report, actual coal stocks at 173 thermal power plants with a total generating capacity of 202.68 GW were 34% of the normative level of 66,720.4 thousand tons as of April 17, 2022.
The actual total stock in these 173 plants monitored by the CEA was 22,796.7 thousand tons.
The proportion of actual coal stocks versus normative levels at 155 pitless plants with a total generating capacity of 163.46 GW was even lower at 27%. The total coal inventory at these power plants was 15,375,000 tons versus a normative level of 57,424,000 tons.
According to the Power System Operation Corporation Ltd. daily report. for Monday, the peak electricity demand met, or highest single-day supply across the country, was 195.69 GW and the peak shortage was 3,948 MW.
