India has been projected to witness spurting coal shipments in response to an unprecedented capacity utilization ramp-up by generating stations, following a rise in demand for electricity.
Acknowledging acute supply shortage of the fossil fuel in power plants across country, the Indian power ministry has advised all state governments and private electricity distribution companies (DISCOMs) to import coal.
The government advisory comes primarily because Coal India Ltd., which produces more than 80% of India’s coal, is failing to meet production targets required to quench the nation’s soaring power demand.
Reportedly, the Kolkata-based miner has missed shipment targets every year since at least 2010 and has focused on supplies to power stations, while curtailing shipments to buyer companies.
As a matter of fact, coal imports by Indian power plants have increased 32% M-o-M in May’18, to 4.912 million metric tons (MMT) from 3.731 MMT in Apr’18.
Per the Central Electricity Authority of India, the monthly coal consumption at the Indian thermal power stations had increased 6% to 56.4 MMT in May’18 from 53.4 MMT in Apr’18.
It should be noted that coal demand is also rising globally, reversing the declining trend seen over the last two years. This demand growth is mainly originated from Asia and is almost entirely driven by an increase in coal fired electricity generation.
Electricity generation increased by 3.1%, or 780 TWh, worldwide in 2017 — China and India together accounted for 70% of the rise, as reported by the International Energy Agency, an autonomous intergovernmental organization.
The Paris-based agency attributed India’s rising electricity demand to its widespread and fast economic growth.
With nearly 85% of the country’s population currently having access to electricity, India is all set to achieve universal access to electricity before 2030 target date, the World Bank forecasted in its latest report released last month.
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