Coal supply shortages causing power utility losses

Coal supply shortages is causing low production and loss of units across power utilities in India. Rising demand for electricity and fall in hydropower production in India has compounded power sector woes as generation companies are struggling to line up uninterrupted coal supply.

The  coal shortages are being faced by almost all the widely dispersed state-level non-pithead plants. To some extent the coal shortages can also be attributed to the fundamental logistics problem. The situation is expected to continue for some time as coal shortages continues, leading to a dip in the generation.

August to October period usually sees improvement in the output of coal from Coal India Ltd and Singareni Collieries Company as compared to April to July period. But, unprecedented demand for power has led to the  domestic coal shortages.

The coal shortages has worst hit several power plants owned and operated by the private players that are struggling to maintain even an ‘average’ Plant Load Factor (PLF) or are completely shut due to unavailability or erratic supply of fuel. On the other hand, shortfall in supplies of coal has led to a temporary hike in tariffs.

According to media reports, CEA has estimated the total coal requirement to be 656 MT for 2018-19 – split as 610 MT of domestic coal and 46 MT of imported coal.