NEW DELHI, Oct 5
As the economy recovers from pandemic blows, a sharp surge in energy demand has triggered an unprecedented fuel shortage at the country’s coal-fired stations, a situation that Union Power Minister R K Singh terms way “beyond” the normal post-monsoon supply crunch.
While there is expectation that the demand could start tapering off from the latter half of October, Singh said the bridging of the fuel gap is still likely to be a “touch and go” affair and that he is bracing for a trying “next five-six months”. “I can’t say I am secure… If you have 40,000-50,000 MW (of thermal capacity) with less than three days of stock, you can’t be secure,” Singh told The Indian Express in an interview.Of the 104 thermal plants monitored daily, 15 with a generation capacity of 14,875 MW had zero days of coal stocks on September 30, while another 39 with a capacity of 52,530 MW had stocks of less than three days. Another 6,960 MW of capacity is facing plant outage due to the unavailability of coal.In India, coal-fired power stations account for nearly 70% of the electricity generation.India’s coal crisis comes amidst a global energy crunch, as a sharp surge in demand across Europe, China and elsewhere, following the opening up of economies after repeated lockdowns and extended restrictions on movement of people, is beginning to test supply chains.“I don’t know whether I will be comfortable in the next five-six, four-five months… Normally the demand starts coming down in the second half of October… when it (the weather) starts cooling… But it’s going to be touch and go,” Singh said.However, the minister asserted, his team is working continuously in coordination with other ministries to avert a crisis, and that till now, “there is nowhere that we have not been able to supply the quantity of power demanded. If there has been load-shedding it must be for other reasons”.Apart from the surge in demand and the supply shortage post-monsoon, the coal crisis has been spurred by the deficient stock build-up in April-June 2021, and the sharp fall in imports due to high international prices of coal. Normally too, all-India electricity peak demand is recorded in October, which typically follows a monsoon-impacted mining output trough.
