Nearly a third of India's coal power plants have critical low fuel stocks

Nearly a third of India’s coal-fired power plants are operating with critically low fuel stocks despite government efforts to boost supplies, as an extended spell of hot weather keeps electricity demand elevated, government data showed.

India’s peak power demand, a measure of the maximum electricity requirement, has been hovering near the record 270.70 gigawatts touched in May.

Demand has consistently reached around 267 GW over the past few days, driven by increased cooling needs amid an El Niño weather pattern.

The number of power plants with critical low coal stocks of less than 25% of the required inventory or only able to generate power for less than three days rose sharply to 59 as of September 9 from 45 at the end of August, data from the Central Electricity Authority showed.

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”The increasing number of power plants with lower coal stocks is a concern,” said Manoj Kumar, an analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

While clean energy, mainly solar power, is meeting much of the daytime electricity demand, insufficient battery storage and lower water reservoir levels are putting pressure on coal-fired generation, analysts said.

In the immediate term, India should increase coal supplies to utilities through the rail network to maintain normal stock levels, Kumar said.

India deployed 444 trains or rakes on September 6 to boost coal supplies to power plants, up from 370 on September 3.

Coal India and its subsidiaries have also increased coal shipments by road.

Coal India, the world’s largest coal miner, said it continues to hold adequate stocks of about 76 million metric tons at its pitheads.