India coal supply struggling to keep pace with generation

• 12 years ago (2011-05-25)
• Junior Isles

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India currently has 80 000 MW of thermal generation under construction, with commissioning scheduled for 2017, according to government sources. But there have been warnings that coal linkages for half of the plants have yet to be obtained.

“Coal linkages for 40 000-45 000 MW power projects for the 12th [Five-year] Plan are yet to be tied up,” an Indian Power Ministry official said.

“The Coal Ministry has said that it would ask Coal India to evaluate the fuel availability,” the official said.

The current installed power capacity of the country is over 173 000 MW, of which thermal power contributes over 93 000 MW.

The Ministry had set a goal of adding over 78 000 MW during the 11th Plan (2007-12), which was subsequently scaled back to 62 000 MW by the Planning Commission following similar concerns over fuel supply.

Meanwhile, Coal India’s production may be short of its target of 460 million tonnes in the 2011-12 fiscal by around 1 per cent, as many operations are delayed.

In the previous financial year, the company had witnessed a 7 per cent slump in production versus targeted output.

Insufficient coal supply has affected state-run thermal power producer National Thermal Power Company (NTPC) and has forced the Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) to explore other options, such as importing fuel from Australia, South Africa and Indonesia to bridge the shortfall in domestic supply.

As per the current coal linkage policy, supplies of coal are established with the objective of making the most economic use of available capacity while bearing in mind the different quality requirements of consumers.