The coal stock position at 79 thermal power plants across the country continues to be woeful with most of the plants having less stock than the normative level.
Moreover, 19 thermal power plants are in critical condition with coal stock of less than seven days and out of them eight are reeling under a super critical condition with coal stock of less than four days.
The coal stock position of these thermal power plants (as on March 31, 2010) is reflected in the data of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA).
Of the 19 thermal power plants (TPPs) facing critical coal stock position, West Bengal leads the pack with six power stations and two out of these six power plants in a super critical state.
The six power plants facing a critical coal stock in that state are the ones at Mejia, Bakreswar, Kolaghat, Sagardihi, Santaldih and Farakka, all with a generation capacity of more than 600 MW.
The coal stock at the 1340 MW Mejia power plant and the 1050 MW Bakreswar plant (as on March 31) is alarming as these two power stations have only 18,000 tonnes and 10,000 tonnes coal respectively which will barely last for a day.
The other power plants in the country facing critical stock include three in Guajarat (Gandhi Nagar TPP, Wanakbori TPS and Torr Power), two each in Rajasthan (Kota TPP and Chhabra TPP), Tamil Nadu (Inter Modal Ennore TPP and Inter Modal Mettur TPP) and Bihar (Muzaffarpur and Kahalgaon) and one each in Orissa (Talcher Super Thermal Power Station), Delhi (Rajghat TPP) and Chhattisgarh (Bhilai TPP).
The critical coal stock at these power stations is attributed to factors like less receipt of coal than the actual requirement, delay in imports by the power plants and higher generation of power without a commensurate rise in coal supplies.
“Some of the power plants in the country are regularly grappling with the problem of critical coal stock and this is a cause of concern. While it is true that there is delay in coal imports by these power plants to meet their growing requirement, there has been a persistent problem of inadequate rakes to carry coal”, said a coal analyst of a global consultancy firm.
When contacted by Business Standard, a top official of Coal India Limited (CIL) said, “Presently, we are meeting around 98 per cent of the normative coal requirement of the thermal power plants. But the fact remains that our coal production is not going up in sync with the rising generation at these power plants and linkages are being given to the upcoming power plants at a time when we are unable to scale up our coal output significantly due to long delay in environmental clearances.”{
CIL's coal production is set to go up from 435 million tonnes (mt) in 2009-10 to 460.5 mt in 2010-11. Out of the total incremental coal availability of 25 mt for the next fiscal, CIL has indicated that it can offer an additional 22 mt for the power sector.
The coal PSU has stated in view of the delay in project clearances and other constraints, its additional availability of coal for the power sector will be 20 mt per annum till the end of the 11 th Plan period.
Accordingly, CIL has suggested that CEA should first allocate the annual contracted quantity in respect of the units which have come up in the previous year for their Fuel Supply Agreement and then allocate the remaining balance, if any, towards new units coming up in that year.
