No shortage of coal for thermal power plants: Coal Ministry

New Delhi: The Ministry of Coal has said that there is adequate availability of coal for Thermal Power Plants (TPP) in the country. As on July 16, coal stocks at thermal power plants stood at 33.46 million tonnes (MT), which is 28 percent higher compared to the corresponding period of the last financial year, said the Ministry of Coal. Coal availability at all locations, including pithead coal stock at mine-end, stock in transit and TPPs, is 103 MT as against 76.85 MT last year, which is 34 percent higher. The ministry is also closely coordinating with all Central gencos and state gencos and there is absolutely no shortage of coal for the power sector, said the Coal Ministry in a statement on Tuesday.

Coal production in July not affected significantly due to monsoon

The Coal Ministry has further stated that coal production during July has been much higher than the corresponding period of the last year. In fact, coal production has been very insignificantly affected due to rains. This has been made possible through mine-wise advance planning for the monsoon season. Coal companies have undertaken the construction of cemented roads for uninterrupted evacuation from larger mines. Transportation of coal from nine mines to railway sidings has been started through mechanised coal handling plants. Coal companies have also planned to extract coal from upper seams. Resultantly, coal production from April 1 to July 16 has been 258.57 million tonne (MT) as against 236.69 MT last year.

Coal dispatch to power sector at 234 MT

At the same time, coal dispatches to power sector has been 233 MT as against 224 MT last year. In fact, due to substantial availability, coal companies have supplied huge additional quantities to the non-regulated sector during this period. It may also be noted that the growth in thermal power generation this year is only 2.04 percent, whereas growth in coal production has been over 9 percent.

As far as the availability of railway rakes is concerned, adequate rakes are being made available by the Ministry of Railways for all the subsidiaries, paving the way for sufficient availability of coal stocks at thermal power plants. The Ministries of Coal, Railways and Power are working in close coordination to ensure adequate availability of coal for all the Thermal Power Plants.

The Coal Ministry also said that no power plant has been closed on account of non-availability of coal. The plants that have been closed have closed on account of some other reasons, said the ministry.

SECL achieved fastest-ever 50 MT of dispatch in this fiscal year

Meanwhile, SECL said that it has achieved 50 million tonnes of coal dispatch so far in FY 23-24. “This is the fastest dispatch of 50 MT of coal achieved since the inception of the company. Last year, the company dispatched around 44 million tonnes of coal in the same period, thus registering a growth of 13 percent in this financial year. Out of the above, around 40 million tonnes of coal has been dispatched to the power sector. A record amount of coal was supplied to the power plants during the summer season, due to which adequate availability of coal has been ensured in power plants,” said SECL in a statement.

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