Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: India plans to import nearly 76 million tonnes (MT) of coal to help plug a fossil fuel shortfall at its thermal power plants in the current financial year.
Because of the increased cost of imports, the tariff may go up by 50-80 paise per unit depending on the distance of the power stations from the seaports importing the coal, the media reported on Friday.
Last year, late monsoon rains flooded coal mines and made evacuation difficult. In the meantime, the thermal power plants had used up their stock of coal, and the country faced a fuel crisis for weeks.
The media reported that this year, with the monsoon expected to affect India’s coal production and supplies to power plants in August and September, state-run Coal India Ltd (CIL) will import 15 MT to supply to power stations.
During the current financial year, India’s largest power generator, NTPC Ltd, and Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) will import another 23 MT, while state generating companies (gencos) and independent power producers (IPPs) would import 38 MT.
Amid the second wave of Covid-19 and an intense heat wave in mid-2021, the demand for electricity soared manifold, peaking at a record high of 211 GW on June 9. With the progress of monsoons, however, it eased, with the maximum demand being 185.65 GW on June 20.
India is importing coal because domestic supplies cannot meet the daily fuel requirement of power plants during August, September, and October, an official said, adding that India’s power plants are currently burning around 2.1 MT of coal daily.
Coal remains the mainstay of India’s energy mix, accounting for 51 percent or 204.07 GW of its installed capacity of 403.75 GW.
With the ease in power demand and imported coal coming in, the fuel inventories at thermal power plants have also improved. The coal stock at the power plants tracked by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) on 19 July was at 28.40 MT, which is 50 percent of the required capacity of 56.92 MT.
Of the 173 power plants CEA tracks, seven imported coal-based power plants and 51 domestic coal-based plants have critical fuel stock levels.
Meanwhile, the Centre has advised gencos to import coal for blending purposes. These firms (gencos) imported 92.07 lakh tons of coal in April-June in FY23 for blending purposes ahead of the Monsoon season, Union Power Minister R. K. Singh informed Parliament on Thursday.
“The Ministry of Power (in April) advised central gencos, state gencos, and Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to import coal for blending purposes during 2022-23,” he said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
To ensure minimum coal stocks in power plants before the onset of the monsoon, the ministry had advised all gencos to complete the placement of awards for the import of coal before May 31, 2022.
As of March 31, 2022, the domestic coal stock was 24.18 MT. On July 14, it was 23.126 MT, which is about 40 percent of the normative stock requirement of 56.6 MT during July 2022.