India’s coal-based power plants have witnessed a lower generation schedule in October 2022 mainly due to incessant rains which brought down the mercury levels and also impacted industrial activities.
As per tentative data provided by the Power Ministry, power generation from the coal-based plants decreased 6% m-o-m to 83.59 billion unit (BU) in October, 2022 while it was almost unchanged y-o-y against 83.54 BU in October, 2021.
In addition, higher-than usual hydro-power availability followed by a low demand situation also resulted in underutilisation of coal plants whose plant load factor (PLF) dropped to 55.64% in October – the lowest in this fiscal.
Source-wise conventional power generation
Source: Power Ministry | Others include lignite, gas, diesel plants
The coal plants have been pivotal in catering to the sharp rise in power demand this year. However, after a strong performance during summer, the output was subdued during the monsoons only to rebound in September. But additional downpour dampened further recovery.
Total power generation by the coal-based plants grew 11% y-o-y to 657.8 BU in April-October, 2022 compared to 594.4 BU in April-October, 2021.
Coal inventory levels rise
Lower generation volume eventually helped the power plants to raise their coal inventories which have now improved to 28.22 mnt at the end of October as against 14.02 mnt in the year-ago period.
This dissipated the brief spell of panic induced by the steep drop in inventory to 26.11 mnt in September-end from the levels of 29 mnt recorded in July-August.
Going forward, power demand is likely to find support from the improvement in economic activities on the brink of the new rabi crop season, but is expected to be on the lower side due to favourable weather conditions.
With increased stock levels, the plants are in a better position to address any abrupt rise in power demand. In turn, this would provide the coal companies the option to address the requirements of the non-power sector, which has been traditionally starved of supplies due to strong power demand.
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