India’s coal-based plants continued to witness a surge in power generation during December 2022 mainly on the back of higher heating load spurred by cold wave conditions prevailing in the north Indian states.
As per tentative data provided by the Power Ministry, coal-based power generation increased 12% y-o-y to 98.5 billion units (BU) in December as against 87.85 BU in December 2021. The output was also 9% higher on the month from 90.02 BU in November 2022.
It is important to note that demand for electricity has been fluctuating post monsoon. During October-November last year the peak demand fell to 187 gigawatts (GW) from levels of 200 GW in September. However, it increased again in December and touched 200 GW on 23 December.
Meanwhile, the hydro plants registered a rise of 9% y-o-y in power generation to 8.79 BU in December, but output was considerably lower than the peak of 23.4 BU recorded in August. Besides, subdued performance from the remaining conventional sources also added to the burden of the coal-based plants.
Source-wise conventional power generation
Quantity in BU | Others include generation from diesel, gas and lignite based plants.
Coal inventory continues to rise
Despite higher coal burning, the power plants have accumulated 32.32 million tonnes (mnt) of inventory at the end of December as against 30.93 mnt in November.
This marked an uptick in inventory levels for the third straight month after it had fallen in September due to supply disruption during the monsoon.
During December, the plants were supplied coal at an average of 2.16 mnt/day which was higher than the consumption rate of 2.11 mnt/day.
The government has set its sights on attaining 45 mnt coal inventory by March 2023, as a sign of preparedness for the peak summer season.
Leave a Reply