Nearly 60 per cent of the total 173 plants monitored by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) have coal stock at critical levels, the All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) has warned.
Quoting the daily coal CEA report dated April 27, AIPEF chairman Shailendra Dubey said 106 of 173 thermal power plants monitored by the CEA reported coal inventory at critical levels.
The Federation has squarely blamed the lack of coordination amongst ministries of coal, railways and power for the prevailing coal crisis resulting in power outages across the country.
“The coal-shortage-induced power outages are due to the lack of coordination amongst the different central government ministries. Now, they are passing the buck and shirking their responsibility for the present mess in the domestic power sector,” Dubey underlined.
Dubey alleged the central ministries are now diverting the issue by linking the crisis to the states' inability to make timely payments to coal companies.
Meanwhile, of the 150 thermal power plants using domestic coal, the number of units with critical coal stock has increased from 81 to 86 in a week. In the private sector, the coal plant with critical coal stock has also increased from 28 to 32.
At least 12 out of 15 thermal plants using imported coal are in the critical category as the cost of imported coal has risen abnormally. “They are not willing to procure imported coal at escalated rates. Among such plants, 14 are in the private sector,” the AIPEF informed.
Dubey said that about 72,000-megawatt (MW) capacity plants were closed during the crisis, mostly due to the non-availability of fuel, while nearly 20,000MW gas-based plants are totally closed.
Against the requirement of about 22 million tonnes (MT) of domestic coal for thermal power plants, only 16.4 MT is available a day even as the coal inventory is depleting fast to a critical level.
In the northern region, 12 of the total 16 state sector thermal plants have coal stock at critical levels. In Rajasthan six out of seven, while in Uttar Pradesh three out of four state sector thermal plants have critical coal stock, Dubey claimed.
As per Northern Region Load Dispatch Centre (NRLDC) data, there is a total shortage of about 1,436 lakh units of energy.
Rajasthan has a maximum shortage of 435 lakh units, followed by Haryana at 337 lakh units, Punjab at 306 lakh units and UP at 295 lakh units.
In Maharashtra, 6 out of 7 thermal plants in the state sector, and in Madhya Pradesh, 3 out of 4 have critical coal stock.
In Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, all state sector thermal plants have critical coal stock levels. More than a dozen states are imposing power cuts of various durations ranging from 2 to 12 hours, the Federation lamented.