Coal India’s supplies to Power plants up 14% during first half of April

Bhubaneswar : Public sector coal miner Coal India Limited (CIL) said on Tuesday that it has raised coal supplies to thermal power stations by 14.2% during the first half of April’22 compared to same period last April. CIL’s supplies have hit 1.64 million tonnes (MTs) per day during this period against 1.43 MTs of similar period April’21.

The company had accelerated its production to 26.4 MTs during the first half of April’22 registering 27 percent year-on-year growth. The company is heading for its highest April production ever. Output expansion in volume terms was 5.7 MTs. To tide over the intense demand, CIL has made available additional 8.75 MTs of coal to State and Central Gencos for lifting through rail-cum-road mode, till 31 May. Of this, 3.25 MT is the unlifted quantity of the earlier round of RCR offer and 5.5 MTs is the new offer. However, the escalating power demand driven up by the post pandemic economic buoyancy and hotter than normal summer seem to dwarf the upsurge in supplies. The mercury levels soared above 41 degrees centigrade in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. The Ministry of Earth Sciences has categorized heatwave status in these northern states. Maximum departure from normal temperature is ranging from 4.8 degrees to 6.2 degrees.

The country’s total power generation was 9.5 percent higher, at an average of 4.53 Billion Units (BU), till 15th April’22 over same period last year. The increase was 400 million units per day against the average generation of 4.13 BU for the comparative period. Coal fired power generation climbed to an average of 3.5 BU per day in April’22 fortnight, 9.4 percent more over last April’s average of 3.2 BU for same period. The uptick of 300 million units generation per day includes imported coal as well. The bulk though was fueled by CIL’s supplies. Sequentially, the coal based generation growth of this period is higher by 5.4% compared to the average of 3.32 BU of the whole month of March’22 The international coal prices are on the boil for past many months showing no signs of cooling off. This turns the spotlight on domestic coal producers with CIL is in the centre of it. CIL is coordinating with the ministries of coal, power and railways to build up stocks at power plants in a synergic effort. The company’s supplies are on the up so far. The pressure would ease if the imported coal based power plants meet their requisite imports set for the year