Lok Sabha Question No. 231 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-12-08
Subject: Coal Shortage in Thermal Power Plants
Ministry: POWER
Asked by: Upendra Singh Rawat

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF POWER LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.231

## ANSWERED ON 08.12.2022

## COAL SHORTAGE IN THERMAL POWER PLANTS

## 231.   SHRI UPENDRA SINGH RAWAT:

Will the Minister of POWER be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware of the coal shortage across 135 thermal power plants in the country with 80 per cent of them having less than eight days of stock left, pushing the country into an electricity crisis;
- (b) if  so,  the  course  of  action  taken/being  taken  by  the  Government  to  prevent  this crisis; and
- (c) the present situation of the coal shortage and electricity crisis?

## A N S W E R

THE MINISTER OF POWER AND NEW & RENEWABLE ENERGY (SHRI R.K. SINGH)

(a) to (c) : The coal stock available at coal based thermal power plants of the country is monitored in Central Electricity Authority (CEA) on daily basis. As on 30.11.2022, there are 75 plants (56%) out of 180 plants are having coal stock of less than 8 days as per their consumption pattern.

As on 31.03.2022, the coal stock position was 25.6 Million Tonnes (MT) (9 days) and it increased to 26.1 MT (9 days) on 30.09.2022 and further increased to 30.9 MT (11 days) as on 30.11.2022.

The gap between energy requirement and energy supplied has been reduced from  2.0%  to  0.1%  between  the  month  of  April,  2022  and  October,  2022  primarily  on account  of  various  steps  taken  by  Government  of  India.  The  detail  of  all  India  power supply position for the months of April, 2022 to October, 2022 is given below:

|           | 2022-23            | 2022-23         | 2022-23             | 2022-23             |
|-----------|--------------------|-----------------|---------------------|---------------------|
|           | Energy Requirement | Energy Supplied | Energy not Supplied | Energy not Supplied |
| Month     | ( MU )             | ( MU )          | ( MU )              | ( % )               |
| April     | 134,781            | 132,028         | 2,752               | 2.0                 |
| May       | 135,765            | 135,156         | 609                 | 0.4                 |
| June      | 1,34,060           | 1,33,263        | 796                 | 0.6                 |
| July      | 1,28,689           | 1,28,255        | 434                 | 0.3                 |
| August    | 1,30,855           | 1,30,390        | 465                 | 0.4                 |
| September | 1,27,226           | 1,26,914        | 312                 | 0.2                 |
| October   | 1,14,068           | 1,13,944        | 124                 | 0.1                 |

……….2

(b) : Government has taken the following steps to augment coal supply to power plants in the country:-

- (i) A  Secretary  level  Inter  Ministerial  Committee  comprising  Chairman  Railway  Board, Secretary,  Ministry  of  Coal,  Secretary  Ministry  of  Environment  Forest  &  Climate Change as members and Secretary, Ministry of Power as convener, has been set up to ensure that the requirements of coal to power plants are met.
- (ii) An Inter-Ministerial Sub Group comprising of representatives from Ministry of Power, Ministry of Coal, Ministry of Railways, Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Coal India Limited (CIL) and Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) has been set up and meet regularly to take various operational decisions on the supply of coal to alleviate critical coal stock position in thermal power plants.
- (iii) Ministry  of  Power  and  Ministry  of  Coal  initiated  allocation  of  coal  under  B(viii)(a) (Tranche-XI)  of  SHAKTI  Policy  for  thermal  power  plants  having  untied  capacity  for selling power through DEEP Portal/Power Exchange to fulfill short term requirements of DISCOMs.

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