Buffer stocks in all power plants to meet peak demand during summer

The government has taken the required actions to make sure that peak demand can be met during this summer by creating buffer stocks in all power plants.

The country’s coal-based thermal power plants (TPPs) are constantly monitored by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA). The amount of coal stock that is currently available at these TPPs is around 34 MT, which is enough to run the plant for 12 days at 85 percent PLF. This is roughly half of the coal stocking guidelines set forth by the Central Electricity Authority.

The peak demand for this summer is expected to be over 230 GW. To ensure that the peak demand during this summer is met, the Ministry of Electricity (MoP) has taken a few measures.

An Inter-Ministerial Sub Group made up of representatives from the Ministries of Power, Coal, and Railways, as well as the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Coal India Limited (ClL), and Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), meets regularly to make operational decisions to improve the supply of coal to thermal power plants and to address any unforeseen situations relating to the power sector, such as reducing the critical coal stock position in power plants.

The chairman of the railway board, the secretary of the coal ministry, the secretary of the environment, forest, and climate change ministry, and the secretary of the power ministry make up the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC), which was established to oversee the expansion of the coal supply and the capacity for power production. Moreover, regular monitoring is done for coal dispatch from captive coal blocks.

In accordance with Section 11 of the Electricity Act, the MoP issued instructions to imported coal-based power plants on February 20, 2023, instructing them to run at full capacity.

The MoP recently ordered Central and State Gencos and IPPs to take the necessary steps to import coal for blending at a rate of 6 percent by weight through a transparent, competitive procurement in order to have enough stock at their power plants for trouble-free operation until September 2023.

The MoP has ordered thermal power plants not to schedule any outages between April and May 2023.

During the crunch time, the MoP has approved a mechanism for the operation of about 5000 MW of gas-based power plants for 18 days (April–May 2023).

To address a scarcity of domestic coal during the first half of the financial year 2023–24, NTPC intends to import about 5.4 million tonnes of coal for its group units.

Given that it has a higher calorific content, imported coal is more expensive than indigenous coal. The cost of imported coal is determined by worldwide coal indices, the country of origin, and other variables that change depending on the global demand-supply situation, such as ocean freight and insurance. According to their needs, each power generation company imports coal. In compliance with the rules of the relevant Electricity Regulatory Commission, the cost of fuel, including imported coal, is incorporated into the generation tariff.