Coal Crisis : Fear of coal crisis in front of power plants

Domestic coal production is not growing much while coal-fired power plants are under pressure to produce more due to increased demand for electricity. On the other hand, coal has become so expensive in the international market that plants producing power from imported coal have almost stopped importing.

The Union Power Ministry is also aware of the situation and on Tuesday, Power Minister RK Singh reviewed the imported coal based plants and also reviewed the status of coal imported by the states.

Union Energy Minister RK Singh was asked about the shortage of coal, he said, there is no shortage of coal in Punjab and UP. Rather, there is a shortage of coal in Andhra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu. There are different reasons behind the shortage of coal in these states.

According to central government data, the total capacity of coal-based power plants in the country as on April 1, 2022 was 9.4 days of coal to generate 203167 MW of electricity. The coal supply with these power plants has been reduced to 8.4 days as on April 12, 2022. Whereas according to the rules, these plants should have a stock of 24 days. Although the coal supply situation is still good as compared to October-November 2021 of last year, but the kind of signs that are being made are worrying.