Coal news and updates

Coal stocks at power plants dip further

September 4: Coal stocks at 100 thermal power plants (TPS) in India continue with their declining trend as the level went down further to 8.76 million tons (mt) on September 1 as compared to 8.890 mt as on August 27 and 9.413 mt recorded on August 13, 2014, mainly due to lower supplies from Coal India Ltd (CIL) coupled with lower imports, according to data released by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA).

Coal stocks at the power plants, which had crossed the 20-mt mark in April 2013 and hovered around that level for quite a few months in the previous year, witnessed a sharp fall this year primarily due to a host of factors, including supplies lower than the annual contracted quantity (ACQ) by CIL to a number of plants.

ICMW had earlier reported that shortage of supplies to power plants was on account of lower wagon supplies against indents of coal companies, particularly for plants located in the western and southern regions and transportation constraints because of restricted movement of trucks to the sidings during the monsoon.

The number of plants facing a critical coal stocks position of less than seven days stood much higher at 56 on September 1 as compared to 52 plants facing a similar fate on August 27 and 48 plants faced with a similar situation as on August 13.

On the other hand, the number of plants facing a super-critical coal stocks scenario of less than four days also stood higher at 29 on September 1 while on August 27, a total of 26 plants faced a similar situation while the number stood lower at 24 on August 13.

According to media reports, the stock levels are at the lowest since mid-2012, when large parts of the country had to go without power, immersing millions of homes in darkness. An NTPC official said the situation is very critical in at least six of its 23 thermal power plants across the country with stocks of less than a day at their plants in Badarpur, Dadri and Jhajjar, all of which feed Delhi and NCR.