Stock up before monsoon, Coal ministry tells power generating companies

Says stock available with power plants enough for 10 days of operation

The Union coal ministry has questioned the concerns of coal shortage in the coming months, saying there is enough domestic stock availability and it is up to the power generating companies (gencos) to stock up before the monsoon months. Senior coal ministry officials said there was 20 million tonnes (mt) of stock with the power plants, which is enough for 10 days of operations.

This comes at a time when the power ministry has been issuing directives to states and power gencos to blend imported coal in order to decrease the pressure on the domestic supply chain.

While earlier it asked the gencos to import coal, it has now asked Coal India to import for them. While the power ministry has acknowledged that there is shortage of domestic coal, coal ministry has maintained that there is enough coal in the country. Responding to the directives issued for gencos, senior coal ministry officials said CIL has 50 mt of stock at its end and close to 7 mt in transit. “Closing stock on May-end is higher than the opening stock at the beginning of the month. CIL is supplying 2.2 mt of coal every day. The gencos need to now stock up in advance as rains will impact the transit of coal. There is enough coal to meet the demand of domestic coal-based power units,” said an official.

According to internal documents, CIL has submitted that its production achievement rate is more than 90 per cent till date. Against a self-declared target of 57 mt production till May 2022, it has mined 52 mt of coal. CIL’s annual production target for the current fiscal year is 700 mt and its current production stands at 113 mt, said the government data. In terms of offtake, CIL says it has 97 per cent target achievement. In a recent statement, CIL said, during May, its dispatch to power sector at an average of 1.69 mt per day was higher than the demand of 1.65 mt.

This helped the stock at power plants, having linkage with CIL, go up by 16,000 tonnes a day during the month, the national miner said.

Ministry officials said CIL production would increase further by 4-5 mt every day and gencos should take advantage of it. “Gencos should ideally stock up coal as the monsoon will impact freight movement. CIL had made similar requests in January this year before the peak summer arrived. Gencos should also plan ahead,” said the official requesting anonymity.

In a U-turn, just a fortnight after it asked all state and private gencos to import coal for 10 per cent blending, the power ministry last week asked them to put their tenders in abeyance.

The Centre has now directed CIL to import coal for state and private gencos. Officials said the tender by the company would be issued soon.