News Analysis India

Tag: coal

  • Centre pressuring states to purchase imported coal, alleges Ashok Gehlot

    By PTI

    JAIPUR: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday alleged that the Centre is pressuring states to purchase imported coal, which costs three times more the one produced in the country.

    He also urged the Centre to remove the requirement of purchasing imported coal, which he said has been increased to 10 per cent of the total purchase.

    According to a release, Gehlot said the price of imported coal is three times higher than that of provided by Coal India.

    The chief minister said Rajasthan may have to bear a burden of Rs 1,736 crore if it purchases the imported coal.

    “The Union ministry of power had issued an advisory in December 2021 to the Rajasthan Vidyut Utpadan Nigam for 4 per cent imported coal blending and in April, it has been made mandatory to buy 10 per cent,” a release quoting Gehlot said.

    “The price of this imported coal is more than three times the price of coal being given by Coal India Limited.

    Its cost is expected to be about Rs 1,736 crore, which is much higher than the cost of domestic coal,” the release said.

    The chief minister expressed concern over the additional burden on the common consumer due to imported coal.

    In a review meeting of the energy department, he directed officials to ensure a smooth operation of power generation units in the state and increase the production.

    The CM also directed to get the accident-prone power lines repaired.

  • Congress blames Centre for coal crunch, power crisis in Maharashtra

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole on Friday said the power crisis in the state has been caused due to lack of coal supply by the Central government.

    Talking to reporters here, Patole claimed that though the Union coal minister has advised states to import coal, the imports will only benefit some of the BJP’s industrialist friends and will make electricity expensive.

    “The Union coal minister has advised states to import coal. However, when coal is imported, it will only benefit some of the BJP’s industrialist friends and it will make electricity more expensive and ordinary consumers will have to bear the brunt of it,” he alleged.

    The Congress leader further said that the allegations of corruption in the allocation of coal mines, which were made during the UPA regime, were later found to be false. The then PM Manmohan Singh had a vision, he was ready to empower the energy department.

    But under the Modi government, no new coal mine has been created, this is a ploy of privatisation, he claimed.

    When asked about the use of loudspeakers on mosques, Patole charged that some parties were trying to further their political interests by raising the issue of loudspeakers on mosques.

    “Why is one particular religion being targeted, when loudspeakers are being used in places of worship across all faiths? The Constitution does not teach you to hate any religion,” the former speaker said.

    Communal forces should not try to instigate one religion against another, he said, adding that efforts are being made to create a religious rift in Maharashtra and action should be taken against such people.

    Speaking about Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Mumbai, Patole said the date for the same has not been fixed yet.

    During his visit to Mumbai, Gandhi will meet Congress MLAs, ministers and party office bearers. The visit will be important for coordination among the MVA constituents and implementation of the common minimum programme drafted by the parties, Patole said.

  • Due to coal shortage power cuts in Punjab going to increase in coming days

    Express News Service

    CHANDIGARH: The power situation remains to be grim in the state due to the coal shortage as five to six hours power cuts are being imposed in villages across the state and one to two hours in cities and in the coming days, the situation will be much worst as the duration of these cuts is likely to be increased.

    As already four units out of 15 units in four thermal plants are shut, causing a loss of 1,410 MW. Thus  Congress and SAD are taking a dig at the AAP Government for their alleged failure to tackle the power shortage.

    Sources said that as of yesterday afternoon the power load in the state touched a maximum of 7,353 MW as on average as of now 6,362 MW but in the coming days it is going to increase upto 15,000 MW thus there will be a shortage of 700 to 2,000 MW during peak time.

    “Already the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) is imposing power cuts ranging from five to six hours in villages across the state and one to two hours in cities.  Starting May the power situationin the state will be going towards the grim side and in June and July the state will have an acute shortage of power thus major power cuts are expected as that will be also the paddy sowing season so power will be needed in the agriculture sector also,’’ said a senior official of PSPCL and added that the situationgot worse due to the shutting down of units in private thermal plants and continuous rise in power demand.

    It is learnt that the cities of Patiala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Sangrur and Amritsar cities faced power cuts today but PSPCL officially claims there are no power cuts in urban areas.

    The power situation remains to be grim in the state as four units out of 15 units in five thermal plants remained shut, causing a loss of 1,410 MW. As two units of GVK thermal plant are shut because of coal shortage, one unit of Talwandi Sabo Power Limited at Mansa is shut because of a technical snag and another unit of Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Plant at Ropar is shut for annual maintenance.

    But the officers in the PSPCL maintain that there is no shortage, in spite of a huge surge in demand. The daily coal requirement of all five thermal plants is around 75 metric tonnes while operating at the plant load factor of over 85 per cent. Despite running at reduced capacity, the thermal plants are not even getting half the daily coal requirement thus they are producing less power.

  • India reported substantial reduction in import of coal this financial year

    NEW DELHI: India has substantially reduced the imports of Coal, including high GCV thermal coal used for industrial purposes and low GCV that goes for power generation, in the current financial year, as per the Coal Ministry.

    “In the first five months of the Financial Year 2021-22 i.e. up to August 2021(Firm import data is available up to August,21), the import of all varieties of Non-Coking Coal has reduced to 70.85 MT from 84.44 MT during the corresponding months of the financial year 2019-20 representing a decline of about 16.09 per cent. The financial year 2020- 21 is not being taken for comparison purposes due to industrial production getting severely affected during this year because of Covid-19 related restrictions where the decline observed is 21 per cent,” reads the official statement.

    The reduction of Non-Coking Coal is significant behind this achievement which “is in line with mission Atma Nirbhar Bharat’.”

    “The reduction of imports of low calorific value (low GCV) of Non-Coking Coal which is mainly used in the power sector is even more significant. During FY 2021-22 upto Aug 21, the imports of such grades of coal have decreased by about 47% to 15.24 MT from 28.69 MT during the same period of FY 2019-20. Due to the substantial reduction of import of Non-Coking Coal in the current year, the total import of coal has also reduced to 94.15 MT in the period from April to August 2021 compared to 107.01 MT during the corresponding period of FY 2019-20, a decrease of about 12 per cent. This has resulted in considerable financial savings in the current year as coal prices are going up sharply in the international market,” says the press release by the Ministry of Coal.

    As per the press note, India has been importing coal to bridge the gap between the requirement of coal and the domestic production in the country. The dependence on imports for Coking Coal mainly used in the steel sector has been predominantly due to very limited domestic availability. Thus, import under this category has been largely non-substitutable. Even though the import of Coking Coal is non-substitutable, consequent to the sustained effort of the government, in line with mission ‘AtmaNirbhar, the imports of various grades of Non-Coking Coal have reduced substantially during the current financial year. (ANI)

  • There won’t be coal crisis for power generation: Union minister Pralhad Joshi

    By PTI

    BILASPUR: Amid the country’s power plants grappling with coal shortages, Union Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi on Wednesday assured that there will no crisis to meet the supply of coal for power generation.

    He was talking to reporters after arriving at the Bilaspur airport before heading to neighbouring Korba district where he is scheduled to take stock of Gevra, Dipka and Kusmunda mines of the South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL), a Coal India subsidiary, and chair a review meeting with officials.

    Asked if Congress was creating a hype claiming shortage of coal, the coal and mines minister said, “I don’t want to do politics over this. We have already been meeting the total requirement.”

    “Today, the requirement is 1.1 million tonnes of coal for power generation and we have already supplied two million tonnes. The stock is also rising because of it. I assure that there will be no problem in meeting the supply for power generation in the country,” he said.

    Joshi said he was going to visit the mines of SECL to take stock and hold discussions to expedite the production there.

    “As far as the requirement is concerned, the power ministry had put forth the demand for supply of 1.9 million tonnes (for power generation units) and after 20th (October), two million tonnes. Today only, we have supplied two million tonnes and rest of the things I will discuss after the review (of mines),” he added.

    On Tuesday, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) reviewed the coal supply and power generation scenario, as the government looks at ways to defuse the energy crisis being faced by several states.

    The coal ministry has been asked to ramp up the supply of coal while the Railways has been asked to make available rakes to transport the fuel to power plants, sources earlier said.

    The shortage of coal — which makes up around 70 per cent of India’s electricity mix — has forced rotational power cuts in states from Rajasthan to Kerala.

    About two-thirds of the coal-fired power plants had stockpiles of a week or less, but the coal ministry earlier said, “any fear of disruption in the power supply is entirely misplaced”.

    States have been forced to buy power from exchanges at high rates to meet the demand.