Coal contributed hefty 78.6% to record-high peak power demand of Jan 22

• Of the total 3.906 Billion Units (BU) generated on January 22, coal fired power generation chipped in the bulk with 3.072 BU

• Close to 67 percent of the total coal fired power generation in the country is fuelled through Coal India Ltd's (CIL) supplies

New Delhi: Coal-based power generation accounted for 78.6 percent of the country's total generation on January 22 when all India peak power demand, which is the highest supply in a day, surged to a new record of 187.3 GW in the morning, eclipsing the previous high of 185.82 GW recorded on January 20. Of the total 3.906 Billion Units (BU) generated on January 22, coal-fired power generation chipped in the bulk with 3.072 BU. "CIL is well geared to meet any surge in demand for the dry fuel from the power sector especially on the back of close to 63 Million Tonne stock at its pitheads. The company is also pushing ahead for increased production, committed to shore up the supplies to coal-fueled power plants," said the coal miner in an official statement released on Saturday.

67% of total coal-fired power generation in India fuelled via CIL supplies

In this backdrop, close to 67 percent of the total coal fired power generation in the country is fuelled through Coal India Ltd's (CIL) supplies. Of the 199 GW of coal-based power programmed for generation per day during the ongoing fiscal, 133 GW is scheduled from CIL-linked coal.  

Average coal based power generation of power per day which was 2.795BU till January 22, spurted up to 3.072 BU, a jump of nearly 10 percent on the morning of the record making day. Coal-based power generation remained consistently high among all other categories.  

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"This increase in coal-based power generation bodes well for us. If this continues, we could expect our supplies to power sector to go up in the near future," said a senior executive of CIL. The person added, "Power plants need to submit adequate programme at our coal companies to avoid any shortage of coal as the demand started peaking."

Coal India focused on ramping up supplies to pithead-based power plants

Coal India is focusing on ramping up its supplies to pithead-based power plants to higher levels. This would influence the cost per unit of power generated to come down. Coal transportation cost to pithead power plants is comparably lower than long distance-based ones, making the landed cost of coal lower. This, in turn, makes the generation cost economical.

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