Power plants designed to run on imported coal are facing operational hurdles due to the soaring prices in international markets, which have kept their generation volumes low in this fiscal.
In Feb’22, power generation from these plants decreased 43% m-o-m to 1,431 million units (MU) compared to 2,508 MU in Jan’22. Indicating state of concern, only 8 of the 14 plants were operational in the period.
With a combined installed capacity of 16,730 mega watt (MW), the import-based plants account for a mere 8% of the total coal-fired plants fleet. However, considering the abrupt rise in power demand, the curtailment in generation kept domestic coal supplies in a tight spot.
Notably, the domestic coal-based plants had to step up their production to compensate for the loss, thereby requiring higher coal supplies.
In fact, generation from domestic coal-run plants were recorded at 86,154 MU in Feb’22, down m-o-m in absolute terms against 88,260 MU in Jan’22 due to the lesser number of days in February. Otherwise, the gradual rise in temperatures lifted average generation to 3,077 MU/day in February against 2,847 MU/day in January.
Supply tightness will continue
The power plants have been recovering, aiming to replenish their depleted coal inventory which fell to a 3-year low of 11.41 mnt at the end of Sept’21.
The restocking process began strongly with increased coal supply, but the pace gradually slowed down on the back of revival in power demand.
As on 15 Mar’22, the inventory levels improved to 26.27 mnt. However, marking a slow progress, a mere 0.3 mnt of coal was added to the power plants’ coal inventory since the end of Feb’22.
At present, a total of 81 power plants are having a critical stock level, as per the methodology defined by Central Electricity Authority.
To keep pace with the elevated demand in peak summer season, the plants would seek higher dispatches from state-run miner-Coal India Ltd (CIL), whose coal supply is inadequate given the logistic constraints.
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