Amid reports of shortages, govt says coal stocks improving at power plants

NEW DELHI: Amid reports of shortages of dry fuel at thermal power plants, govt on Friday said the daily supplies of coal to the power sector have increased by around 36% from Sept and the rate of stock depletion has moderated significantly.The coal ministry in a statement said that the tag ‘critical stock’ was just an early warning sign and didn’t mean that the plant was running out of the dry fuel. It added that plants showing low stocks were being closely monitored and the supplies were being redistributed to ensure uninterrupted power generation.“The ‘critical stock’ tag is a norm-based trigger (plants holding less than the prescribed threshold of normative stock) and is designed to flag plants early, well before actual fuel shortage or generation loss occurs. A plant appearing on this list is, by design, an early-warning entry and not an indication that it has run out of coal or is at imminent risk of shutting down,” the ministry said in a statement.As per the Central Electricity Authority, 87 of 190 coal-fired power plants had critical stocks as on Oct 8, up from 50 in the first week of Sep. The plants had 20.6 million tonne of coal, just 33% of the recommended stock of 61.2 million tonne.The ministry said that daily coal supplies to the power sector had risen by around 36% from the Sep low, with Oct averaging about 9% higher than the last month and the rate of stock depletion had also moderated significantly. “Stock depletion has slowed sharply, with the daily drawdown falling by more than half from 0.243 MT/day in Sept to 0.116 MT/day in Oct. The position is therefore stabilising, although stock rebuilding is yet to commence,” the ministry said, adding that rail loading had also strengthened correspondingly, averaging over 465 rakes per day in Oct, with the 470-rake target achieved on three consecutive days. Supplies through other modes, including road, have also improved, it added.With monsoon receding, the ministry said that peak power demand was expected to moderate by mid-Oct and sustained loading of 465-475 rakes per day should support further stabilisation and enable stock rebuilding ahead of the festive, winter and subsequent summer demand periods. This will help in reducing the number of plants in the critical category, coal ministry said.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.