Coal India Limited (CIL) would like the country's 70-odd power plants to stick to their commitment on coal imports for meeting requirement, in the absence of which power units may run dry.
The power sector was expected to import 20 million tonnes of non-coking coal during 2008-09, but till now only 25-30 per cent of this target had been imported between April and August.
The issue was raised by CIL officials at the recently concluded power secretaries’ co-ordination committee meeting.
CIL conveyed its position to power and coal ministries too.
Due to short supply of coal, 38 power units across the country had become 'critical' and over 10 could gradually slip into the 'super critical' grade in the next few weeks with stocks slipping to below 4 days. Power stations having stocks of between 4-7 days are dubbed 'critical'. This has already resulted in lower generation by power units. In addition to the coal crisis, power project delays, maintenance shut downs and low reservoir levels in hydel units had hit generation.
CIL claimed it achieved growth of 4 per cent on supplies to the power sector during the current year against the same period last year.
“We are supplying at the rate of 98 per cent of Annual Action Plan (AAP) fixed for CIL vis-a-vis the power sector and still there is short supply. The power sector will have to buck up with imports or else the scene will worsen", claimed Partha S Bhattacharya, chairman, CIL. CIL alleged that the 38 power stations became ‘critical’ mostly because of their failure to import non-coking coal on time. CIL will have to supply 305 million ton of coal to the power sector during 2008-09 of the total 405 million ton to be supplied country-wide.
CIL currently had stock of 38.5 million ton of coal and could therefore meet power sector requirements across the country, but would prefers power units to imports. Coal import was dearer today as prices of non-coking coal had risen from $60 a ton to almost $115-$120 a ton in international markets.
Price of coking coal, mostly used by steel units, rose from $140/t to over $300 a ton.
"Power sector was putting pressure on CIL for supply of coal as more and more power units turned critical with coal stocks drying up," said N C Jha, director (technical), of CIL.
CIL alleged power stations were exceeding projected generation figures and reporting high plant load factor (PLFs) to earn bonuses and incentives from the government. One CIL official alleged, “While making annual coal demand, the power stations project a PLF of 80 per cent but later generate at over 98 per cent PLF, requiring more coal".
CIL complained to the power ministry that excess generation by power stations led to coal demand exceeding targets.
Shortage of wagons and rakes was stalling coal supply to power stations. Jha alleged, “We may produce as per requirement, but the onus is on the railways to reach coal to power stations. In many cases, it is due to delayed placement by railways that power stations have fallen critical".
