Power crisis: CIL despatches highest-ever coal in April-October period

• Overall coal supplies for October reached 56.7 MTs, with nearly 12 percent jump against October of last year when the despatch was 50.7 MTs
• CIL scaled up its supplies to power utilities to an all-time month's high of 48.2 MTs in October

New Delhi: Scripting a new record, Coal India Limited (CIL) despatched a total of 364.4 million tonnes (MTs) of coal during the first seven months of the ongoing fiscal, the highest-ever for this period so far, posting 19 percent growth over the corresponding period of the last year. The increase in volume terms is a whopping 58.6 MTs compared to 305.8 MTs of the same period last fiscal. Overall coal supplies for October reached 56.7 MTs, with nearly 12 percent jump against October of last year when the despatch was 50.7 MTs.
 
With concentrated efforts to consolidate dwindling coal stocks at power utilities of the country, CIL scaled up its supplies to an all-time month's high of 48.2 MTs in October, clocking a year-on-year 23 percent growth. In comparison, coal despatch to coal-fired power plants during October 2020 was 39.2 MTs. The coal major also logged a strong 42 percent growth against a Covid-free October 2019, when despatch was around 34 MTs.

Progressively for the year ending October 2021, CIL, at 294 MTs, supplied 56.2 MTs of more coal to the power sector, clocking 23.6 percent growth. This is yet another high for this period. During the corresponding period of the last year, the supplies were 237.8 MTs.

'Immediate need was to shore up coal stocks at power plants'

"The immediate need was to not only meet the daily coal requirement of power plants but also shore up coal stocks at their end. From 7.3 MTs on October 17, the coal pile at power plants gradually climbed to 10.52 MTs, equivalent to six days' coal stock, by the month-end (October 30). This stock accrual was the result of increased supplies, bulk of which was from CIL's sources," said a senior official of the company. 

During the last week of October, the average per day stock accumulation at thermal power plants has been over 3 lakh tonnes, touching almost 4 lakh tonnes on four days.

CIL to ramp up coal stocks to 12 MT by Diwali

Against coal consumption of around 1.8 MTs per day by the power sector, the supply from CIL and other sources has been around 2.2 MTs during the last week of October, with CIL accounting for the major share. On October 28, CIL's despatch to power plants peaked to 1.8 MTs, the highest-ever recorded for a single day since the inception of the company. CIL expects to further boost up the stocks to 12 MTs by Diwali.

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