More Indian states suffer power shortage

An increasin number of Indian states are resorting into power cuts as they feel the effects of power shortage.

Owning to dip in coal supply states such as Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka are reeling under severe power crisis. This may cascade into a pan-India crisis with coal supplies hit due to varied reasons, including rains and civil strife.

The dark spell is expected to continue for 4-5 days. With floods, strikes and the Telangana agitation crippling mining operations, half of India’s 85,000 mw of thermal power capacity is running on ’super critical’ fuel stocks, or enough coal to produce electricity for less than four days. Another 12 per cent of the capacity is operating on coal stocks that will last for less than a week.

The plants are supposed to stack up fuel for an average of 25 days. Top producer NTPC has been forced to shut down 5,000 mw of capacity because of coal shortage and technical issues. Worsening the shortage is planned maintenance of plants operating on other fuels and low water level in rivers that has hurt hydroelectricity production in some states.

Several states have been facing three-four hours of power cuts a day and the situation appeared to be worsening despite some steps to spruce up feedstock supplies announced by Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal Thursday.  “In order to ensure greater availability of coal for the power sector, the ministry of coal has decided to offer some of the e-auction coal to the sector during the current month,” said a statement.

As per the existing policy on supply of coal, 10 per cent of the total available quantity of this feedstock is kept for e-auction. Jaiswal also directed officials to increase immediately loading of coal to 180 rakes per day from the present 153 rakes. Out of these 145 rakes were earmarked for the power sector.

“We welcome this first step from the government. This will definitely help mitigate the immediate coal crisis,” said Ashok Khurana, director general of the Association of Power Producers, a lobby mainly for private players.

The main reasons behind the shortage of feedstock are heavy rains in some coal producing areas, a two-day strike by workers of state-run Coal India last week and the disruption of mining in Andhra Pradesh due to a strike to press for a separate state of Telengana.

As a result, many of the units of the country’s largest power producing utility, the state-run NTPC, have been left with coal supplies for no more than two days. Some units were also operating at sub-optimal levels, power ministry officials said.

In the national capital, one of the two distribution companies said the situation was set to improve by weekend. “But during the interim, to the extent of the shortfall, the Delhi discoms will be constrained to undertake load shedding on a rotational basis.”

In West Bengal, though, the situation was caused by Coal India’s subsidiaries halting supplies to state-run utilities due to default in payment, prompting the state’s power minister to assure people that the situation will improve in three days.

Gujarat, on the other hand, while not facing a power crisis decided to stop distribution to other states as a precautionary measure, claiming a 30 percent drop in coal supplies to the state from central government-run coal mining entities.