Yogesh Kumar Goyal
At present, coal reserves are in the critical category in about thirty power plants with less than seven days of coal left. It is believed that if the situation does not improve, then it will fall in the category of very serious i.e. less than three days. According to federal guidelines, power plants must have at least twenty-four days’ worth of coal.
Due to the increasing demand for electricity amid the scorching heat, the crisis of power shortage has started deepening in many states of the country. With the increase in demand, the consumption of coal in thermal power plants has increased rapidly and due to this, the stock of coal in power plants of some states is depleting. In fact, due to the heat, the demand for electricity in power companies has increased by ten percent. As the heat increases, the demand for electricity will also increase at the same rate.
Due to the boom in industrial activities, the consumption of electricity in industries is also increasing. But the power plants are not getting coal as per the demand. Due to power shortage, a steel producer in Andhra Pradesh has reduced its production by fifty percent. At present, coal reserves are in the critical category in about thirty power plants, where coal is left for less than seven days. It is believed that if the situation does not improve, then it will fall in the category of very serious i.e. less than three days. According to federal guidelines, power plants must have at least twenty-four days’ worth of coal.
After many years, such a big power crisis has arisen in Maharashtra, the country’s main industrial stronghold, where two and a half thousand MW electricity is being received less than the demand. If we look at the figures, there is a demand of about twenty eight thousand MW power in Maharashtra, which is four thousand MW more than last year. States like Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana are also facing coal shortage. In Jharkhand, Bihar, Haryana, Uttarakhand, electricity is getting three percent less than the demand.
In Andhra Pradesh, there has been a shortfall of 8.7 per cent in the supply of electricity as compared to the demand. In Uttar Pradesh, against the demand of twenty two thousand MW, only nineteen thousand MW is being supplied. The situation of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh is more or less the same. In Rajasthan twelve to sixteen thousand tonnes per day, whereas in Madhya Pradesh there is a shortage of fifteen thousand six hundred metric tonnes of coal. If we look at the situation in Haryana on April 11, on this day the demand for electricity was 20 percent more than last year, but due to lack of coal and technical glitches, power generation is being reduced. In Punjab also power generation has decreased by 1200 MW due to shortage of coal.
According to the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), out of one hundred and seventy three power plants in the country, there are one hundred and fifty-five such power plants, which do not have any coal mines nearby and have an average coal reserve of about twenty eight percent. While the average reserves of eighteen plants located near coal mines are eighty-one percent of the normal demand. According to CEA data, out of one hundred and seventy three power plants, the coal reserves in Santanwe are in dire condition. In October last year also, the power crisis had deepened due to coal crisis due to increase in electricity demand by about one percent, but now within a week, this crisis has become serious due to increase in power demand by 1.4 percent.
After last year’s power crisis, it became clear that apart from not getting the desired supply of coal to power plants, several policy lapses have also been the main reason behind the power crisis. Due to the power crisis, the problems of the common citizens increase, it also has a bad effect on the economy of the country. The lack of energy has been considered a major obstacle to economic development.
It is worth noting that before the Corona period, in August 2019, the consumption of electricity in the country was one hundred and six billion units, which increased by about eighteen percent to one hundred and twenty four billion units in August 2021. Experts believe that by March 2023, the demand for electricity in the country can increase by 15.2 percent, to meet which coal-based power stations will have to increase production by 17.6 percent. Seventy-five percent of the total electricity generation in the country comes from coal-fired power stations.
To deal with the power crisis, the central government has decided to reduce the supply of coal to the non-power sector. At the same time, after reviewing the imported coal-fired power plants, the government also decided that in order to deal with the coal crisis and continue power generation, the central government would give twenty-five percent tolling facility to the states on linkage coal for the plants near the mines. Degi, under which indigenous coal is mixed with imported coal.
In order to avoid long distance transportation, the power ministry has decided to provide the facility of mixing indigenous and imported coal, in that system the power generating companies of the states can allow the thermal power stations near the coal mines to generate. Due to the increasing demand for coal, the Ministry of Power has asked to increase the import of coal to 306 million tonnes. However, stopping the import of coal from abroad also deepens the problem.
In fact, the prices of coal in the international market have increased significantly. Power plants are also shutting down or reducing their coal imports because of increasing their cost of production. This is the reason that in view of the shortage of domestic coal, the government does not seem to find any permanent solution to this problem even after suggesting the government to use domestic coal with up to 10% imported coal.
Power companies also need to take strict steps to get rid of the power crisis arising from the shortage of coal.
In fact, a lot of electricity is wasted due to technical glitches in power distribution. This unnecessary wastage of electricity can be saved by repairing the distribution system. Apart from this, theft of electricity will have to be curbed by developing a monitoring mechanism by taking strict action in the matter of large-scale theft of electricity by the people. For permanent relief from the power crisis, there is also a need to promote pollution free solar power projects, hydro projects and nuclear power projects in the country instead of coal based power plants.
Although the target was set to generate 100 gigawatts of electricity through solar power by this year, but due to not achieving this target, there is also a problem of power shortage. India currently ranks fifth in the world in terms of solar power capacity, behind China, the US, Japan and Germany. The country will get rid of the deepening power crisis from time to time only if the targets are achieved on time through solar power projects. People should be encouraged to install solar energy panels at homes, they should be given loans and government help on easy terms.