They have less than four days of coal stock; Maharashtra and Rajasthan are worst affected
A looming power shortage may dampen Diwali celebrations for lakhs of families as twenty thermal power plants across the country are running at super critical levels and another seven in critical stage due to an acute shortage of coal.
Power plants with almost 30 gigawatt (gw) or 29,142 megawatt (mw) installed capacity are either in super critical or critical condition, while 625 mw is out of the grid.
Western and northern regions of India, particularly Maharashtra and Rajasthan, are among the worst affected. The generation has been hit as much as 40% in these states because of coal supply issues arising from transportation-related issues.
As per Central Electricity Authority data on Sunday (October 15), power plants like Rajiv Gandhi (Haryana), Yamuna Nagar (Haryana), Dadri (Uttar Pradesh) and Chandrapura (Jharkhand) are in a critical state and don't even have reserve coal stock for a day.
Thermal plants of Unchachar (Uttar Pradesh), Bina and Shri Singaji (both in Madhya Pradesh) and GMR Warora (Maharashtra) have been categorised as super critical with each one having just a day's coal stock available.
A power plant is classified as super critical if coal stock is less than four days. If a plant has stock for four to seven days, it is termed critical.
Barring Mettur-II in Tamil Nadu that gets coal by road, all other plants receive their feedstock via train.
In fact, units of two thermal plants – Surat (Gujarat) and Durgapur Steel Thermal Power Station (West Bengal) are out of the grid because of the same supply issue. One unit of Surat Thermal Power Station isn't producing 125 mw as it is not receiving adequate lignite while Durgapur Steel Thermal Power Station's two units are out of service due to which 500 mw is not getting generated.
For the last few weeks, Maharashtra has been facing load shedding due to power shortage. Earlier this month, Indian Railways was making available 15-20 rakes for hauling coal as against the need for 32-33 rakes, which is leading to a daily power shortage of 2,000 mw. In addition to the shortage, warm temperatures in October are resulting in more demand for electricity, leading to even more load shedding hours said an industry player.
In order to beat the demand-supply gap, Maharashtra government has been purchasing power from central power grid on a short-term basis.
A senior Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) official shared that shortage of coal supply is primarily due to two factors - unusual rainfall in October and maintenance of railway tracks after a series of train accidents, thereby affecting regular supply of coal to the power stations.
Rajasthan, too, has been facing a similar power crisis just for reasons alike. In fact, all the three thermal power plants of Rajasthan, namely, Chhabra, Kota and Suratgarh, are in super critical state of operations.
The situation is expected to improve only after Diwali when winter sets in the country, which will, in turn, reduce electricity demand and eventually help in maintaining buffer coal stocks at the power plants.
In the northern region, there are eight plants in super critical and one in critical situation. These are in the states of Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Whereas Southern belt has three such plants, one super critical each in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and one critical in Tamil Nadu.
The western region is worst-hit with eight of the plants categorised as super critical and another five as critical in the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. The situation in the eastern region is the least worrisome, with just two power plants being super critical, one each in Jharkhand and Bihar.
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