Power stations in critical state as coal supply slips

Non-availability of domestic coal and low coal imports by power utilities between April and October 2008 have pushed 55 power stations in the country to the 'critical' category and rendered another 33 utilities as 'super critical'.

For the first time in the last few decades so many power plants are put under these two categories due to lack of coal, say the informed sources.

Of all the power stations in the country, 55 are currently having coal stocks below 7-days falling in the 'critical' category' and 33 are thriving on a lower than 4-days stock in the 'super critical' grade, according to Central Electricity Authority (CEA) reports. Says a highly-placed Coal India official, "never before in the history of CIL, have so many power stations fallen critical and super critical because of coal shortage. The situations are alarming".

While power stations blame Coal India for non-supply and shortage of the material, CIL points out that low coal imports by power stations has resulted in the current crisis. According to CIL, power stations have not kept to their commitments of coal imports of 10.55 million tonnes between April and October 2008 and have imported only 4.88 million tonnes thereby creating an overall shortage. Coal ministry figures reveal, the worst offender is National Thermal Power Corporation ( NTPC) which has met only 14 per cent of its commitment by importing 0.694 million tonnes of coal as against the targetted 4.81 million tonnes.

NTPC imported 1.47 million tonnes of coal during the same period ( April-October) in 2007. NTPC annually accounts for almost 38-40 per cent of coal offtake from CIL. The highest importer is Tamilnadu Electricity Board ( TNEB) which imported 0.910 million tonnes of coal as against the projected 1.495 million tonnes. Last year, TNEB imported 0.825 million tonnes of coal during this period.