New Delhi: Amid fast spiralling power demand, Coal India Limited (CIL) has raised its supplies to thermal power stations by 14.2 percent during the first half of April as compared to the same period last year, said CIL in a statement on Tuesday. CIL's coal supplies have hit 1.64 Million Tonnes (MTs) per day during this period against 1.43 MTs recorded in the same period in April 2021, the coal miner said. The PSU had accelerated its production to 26.4 MTs during the first half of April, registering 27 percent year-on-year growth.
Coal India "is heading for its highest April production ever. Output expansion in volume terms was 5.7 MTs," said the statement.
To tide over the intense demand, CIL has made available additional 8.75 MTs of coal to state and Central gencos for lifting through rail-cum-road mode till May 31. Of this, 3.25 MT is the unlifted quantity of the earlier round of RCR offer and 5.5 MTs is the new offer.
However, the escalating power demand driven up by the post-pandemic economic buoyancy and hotter than normal summer seems to dwarf the upsurge in supplies, said CIL.
The mercury levels soared above 41 degrees in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. The Ministry of Earth Sciences has categorised heatwave status in these northern states. Maximum departure from normal temperature is ranging from 4.8 degrees to 6.2 degrees.
The country's total power generation was 9.5 percent higher, at an average of 4.53 Billion Units (BU), till April 15 over the same period last year. The increase was 400 million units per day against the average generation of 4.13 BU for the comparative period.
Coal-fired power generation climbed to an average of 3.5 BU per day in April fortnight, 9.4 percent more over the last April's average of 3.2 BU for the same period. The uptick of 300 MU electricity generation per day includes imported coal as well. The bulk though was fuelled by CIL's supplies.
Sequentially, coal-based generation growth of this period is higher by 5.4 percent compared to the average of 3.32 BU of the whole month of March.
The international coal prices are on the boil for the past many months, showing no signs of cooling off. This turns the spotlight on domestic coal producers. CIL is coordinating with the ministries of coal, power and railways to build up stocks at power plants in a synergic effort. The PSU's supplies are on the up so far. The pressure would ease if imported coal-based power plants meet their requisite imports set for the year. India imports around 200 MT of coal every year.
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