Coal stocks at thermal power plants returning to normalcy

Coal stocks at thermal power projects are normalising as the number of non-pit head projects with less than four days of coal dropped to 61 on Sunday from 70 a week ago, government data showed.

According to the recent coal-stock data of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), on October 17, the number of non-pit head projects with less than four days of coal (supercritical stock) was 61 and 70 on October 10, while on October 3, it was 64.

The growth in the coal stock situation implies importance given the continuing shortage of dry fuel at thermal power facilities in the nation.

The Central Electricity Authority observes the coal stock situation of 135 thermal power facilities with a cumulative production capacity of more than 165 GW.

The data also revealed that the number of power plants with zero days of coal has dropped to 16 with a cumulative established production capacity of 13,495 MW, as against 17 with 16,430 MW capacity a week back.

On October 3, the number of plants was 17 with a 21,325 MW capacity.

On October 17, the number of the plants with one day of coal stock has also decreased to 25 with 34,080 MW capacity as against 26 with 34,930 MW capacity on October 10. On October 3, this figure was 20 with 22,550 MW capacity.

Likewise, the number of plants with two days of coal additionally dropped to 18 (having 25,914 MW capacity) from 22 (27,325 MW) a week ago. On October 3, this number was 20 with 29,960 MW capacity.

Additionally, one week back, the number of plants with three days of coal came down to 15 (with 20,290 MW capacity) from 18 (24,094 MW). On October 3, the number was 19 with 22,000 MW capacity.

The number of plants with four days of coal has surged to 18 with 21,915 MW capacity as of Sunday, from 13 with 15,210 MW capacity a week back, showing growth in dry fuel stock. The figure was 15, having 16,890 MW capacity in the past week.

The number of plants with five days of coal has dropped to 10 (with 12,630 MW capacity) compared to 11 with 10,775 MW capacity a week back. On October 3, this figure was six (7,174 MW).

On October 17, the power ministry data also noted enhancement in the power shortage situation since it dropped to 1,456 MW compared to 2,714 MW a week ago.

Amid the coal shortage at power plants, the peak power shortage had reduced to 986 MW on October 15, in sharp contrast to 11,626 MW on October 7.

On October 7, the 11,626 MW peak power shortage was the highest during the first half of this month.

Experts are of the view that power demand has abated with the start of autumn and heavy rains in many parts of the nation this weekend.

They suggested that with the government's attempts to expedite coal supplies to power plants, the dry fuel situation would further enhance.

Earlier last week, the power ministry had stated that units under outage capacity due to low coal stocks dipped from 11 GW on October 12 to 5 GW on October 14.

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