Data from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), showed that on 4 October the consumption of thermal plants stood at 23.17 lakh tonne, while a total of 18.02 lakh tonne coal was received during the day with the supply gap at 5.15 lakh tonne. The gap was filled primarily by the reserve stocks along with imported coal. About 93,000 imported coal was used and the rest 4.21 lakh tonne was used from the reserve stocks.

On 1 October when the consumption was 21.63 lakh tonne, the gap stood at 2.25 lakh tonne, with supply of 19.38 million tonne. The average daily supply gap in the first four days of October was 3.34 lakh tonne. The average gap in September was 2.87 lakh tonne.

Currently, the coal stock at thermal power plants is adequate for just over 8 days from nearly 10 days by the the end of September. In March, the stock was for adequate for 13 days.

The power demand was unexpectedly high in August and September given dry spells and sporadic monsoons. Power demand in September rose 10.7% on a year-on-year basis. The demand is expected to rise 5.5% in FY24 with an upside bias, analysts said.

The peak power demand hit several new highs in August, before touching an fresh record high of 239.9 GW on 1 September. The projection for the the peak demand this year was 230 GW.

Although, the demand has eased since the peak demand with the ease in temperatures, it is still elevated and stood at 203.44 GW on October with a peak shortage of 2.95 GW.

Amid soaring power demand, the centre last month mandated domestic coal-based power plants to blend 4% imported coal till March next year. In January, gencos were asked to blend 6% imported coal till September in order to meet high demand during the summer. The ministry had said that the gap between coal consumption at these domestic coal-based plants and the receipt of domestic coal was about 200,000 tonnes per day.

Further, the union ministry of power last month also directed imported coal-based (ICB) power plants to operate at full capacity till the end of October. The original directive on this was issued in February when ICB plants were asked to run at full capacity till 15 June, which was later extended till September.

The coal ministry, however, earlier this week said that the country has witnessed a “substantial surge” in overall coal production during the month of September 2023, attaining 67.21 million tonne (MT) production, surpassing the figures of 58.04 million tonne in the corresponding month of previous year, representing an increase of 15.81%.

The production of Coal India Limited (CIL) has risen to 51.44 million tonne in the month of September 2023 as compared to 45.67 MT in September 2022 with the growth of 12.63%. The cumulative coal production (up to September 2023) has seen quantum jump to 428.25 million tonne in FY23-24 as compared to 382.16 million tonne during the same period in FY22-23, with a growth of 12.06%.

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Updated: 07 Oct 2023, 01:10 AM IST