News Analysis India

Tag: power crisis

  • Amid power shortage, Punjab farmers announce protest against AAP govt 

    Express News Service

    CHANDIGARH: The farmers and the AAP Government in Punjab are heading for a confrontation as the government has called upon the farmers to go for staggered paddy transplantation and adopt the Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR) technique to avoid worsening of the power crisis.

    The call has not gone well with the farming community as it had rejected the electricity supply schedule for the upcoming paddy sowing season issued by the state government and had asserted that they would start transplanting paddy from June 10. 

    The government has decided to stagger paddy transplantation into four phases starting June 18 by, for the first time, dividing the state into four zones, in an effort to reduce the use of power during the peak season.

    A few days back the meeting between the farmers’ unions and Punjab Power Minister Harbhajan Singh and Punjab State Power Corporation Limited Chairman-cum-Managing Director Baldev Singh Sra failed to break the deadlock on the issue.

    The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) has announced an indefinite ‘Delhi model’ agitation (The large-scale agitation against the three farm laws) against the state government in Chandigarh from May 17.

    A decision in this regard was taken at a meeting of twenty-three farmers’ unions held in Ludhiana a few days ago. 

    Senior SKM  leader and General Secretary of BKU (Lakhowal) Harinder Singh Lakhowal said they had met the chief minister Bhagwant Mann on April 17 in the meeting the government assured them a bonus of Rs 500 per quintal on wheat, MSP on maize and basmati but till date, nothing has been done. We have given one month’s time to the government to fulfill our demands and but the government failed to do so. Hence, we will start an indefinite agitation in Chandigarh. A tractor-trailer march will be held to commence agitation,said Lakhowal

    Terming the government’s move as a one-sided decision, Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) president Joginder Singh Ugrahan said that the state government needed to call a meeting with the farmers before announcing dates for paddy transplantation.

    ALSO READ | Farmers protest near residence of Punjab Power Minister Harbhajan Singh over electricity shortage

    The state government, for the first time, has decided to stagger the paddy transplantation into four phases starting from June 18. In an effort towards reducing the use of power during the peak season, the state has been divided into four zones.

    BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan said that it was wrong to blame only the farmers for the falling underground water levels. The government must remember that before Green Revolution, paddy was never the crop of the state. The government aid of Rs 1,500 for direct seed plantation of paddy was not enough. The government needs to give at least Rs 10,000 per acre to cover farmers’ risks. 

    “The government has still not given a guarantee on the MSP of alternative crops, including maize, moong dal and basmati rice,’’ he said.

  • Power crisis: Indian Railways deploys 86 per cent of its open wagons for coal transportation

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: To counter the electricity crisis in the country, the Railways has deployed 86 per cent of its open wagons to transport coal to various power plants in the country, sources said on Wednesday.

    Out of the 1,31,403 BOXN or open wagons in its fleet, the Railways is using 1,13,880 for coal transportation, as part of a plan formulated by the national transporter in consultation with the ministries of coal and power, they said.

    Data shows the Railways has around 3,82,562 wagons, out of which 1,31,403 are open wagons and 3,636 of whom are in need of repair as of May 2.

    Daily, the Railways is loading an average of around 28,470 wagons with coal to meet the demand from power plants.

    A coal train usually gets up to 84 wagons.

    The Railways has also used an innovative method of using long-haul trains — running three to five trains together — at 122 locations in states like Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh to expedite transportation.

    In marathon meetings with top officials of the three ministries, around 18 key points have been identified in the transportation of coal.

    This includes the detention of rakes during coal loading and unloading which is taking more than 10 days in some cases, sources said.

    The situation, sources say is such that the Railways is even put into action around 40-50 damaged wagons in operation to move coal.

    Officials said to expedite the movement of coal rakes, the Railways has also increased the operating duration of rakes by 2,500 km.

    This means that the rakes which were earlier treated for wear and tear after every 7,500 km are now sent to the garage after 10,000 km, giving them more running time.

    The trains which have a loading capacity of around 71 MT are now carrying at least a tonne of extra load.

    Sources indicate that this focus on coal is affecting the transportation of steel and aluminium.

    The steel industry is also facing a shortage of BOXN rakes for the movement of imported coking coal from ports like Paradip and Dharma to steel plants, they said.

    In 2021-22, the Railways transported 653 million tonnes (MT) of coal, around 20.4 per cent higher than in 2020-21.

    Around 46 per cent of the railways’ total freight cargo in 2021-22 comprised coal.

    Of the 653 MT of coal transported by the railways, around 83 per cent, or around 540.4 MT, was to thermal power plants.

    The remaining was to foundries of different manufacturing units.

    According to railway ministry data, nearly 95 per cent of coal transported by the railways comes from Coal India’s reserves while the remaining is imported.

    “With our focus on ensuring that we transport coal to power plants to ensure that there are no blackouts in the country, loading of other commodities are bound to suffer.

    “This has affected passenger trains as well. It is a matter of priority and a calculated decision has been taken,” said an official in the ministry.

  • 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.

  • Coal situation stays grim across India, Union Minister Amit Shah takes stock

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI:  Amid widespread concerns over power cuts across the country because of inadequate coal supply at generation units, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday met both coal and power ministers to take stock of the situation. 

    Besides power minister R K Singh and coal minister Pralhad Joshi, top officials of the ministries and senior officials from the state-run energy conglomerate NTPC Ltd, attended the hour-long meeting.  While the ministry of coal sought to allay fears of disruption in power supply, the latest daily report of the Central Electric Authority said as many as 115 of the 135 thermal power plants in the country are now on coal stocks of less than a week. As many as 96 of these plants that generate 71% of total thermal power in the country, have coal stocks of four days or less (see table below).

    Depending on the distance of the power plant (from the coal mines) and the kind of coal — pithead or non-pithead — it uses, a comfortable stock would last for 15-30 days. The stock is considered critical if it is likely to last for seven days or less; and super critical if it will be exhausted in four days or less. On Friday last, the number of power plants with critical or super-critical coal stocks was 110. 

    Reports from across the country confirmed the grim picture. Delhi’s thermal units barely have stock for two-three days, claimed power minister Satyendar Jain. 

    Karnataka has just two days of coal stock left, with barely 12 rakes, each having up to 4,000 metric tonnes of coal. As on 6.30 pm on Monday, the Raichur Thermal Power Station produced just 444 MW against a capacity of 1,720 MW from three grids; Ballari TPS 395 MW against a capacity of 1,700 MW; and Yeramarus TPS 678 MW though its installed capacity is 1,600 MW. Only one unit each of YTPS and BTPS were operating. Also, two coal-based thermal power plants have been shut for two-and-a-half months as coal could not be imported. However, hydro plants managed to address the need for now due to abundant rains.

    In Rajasthan, Monday was the 11th successive day of blackouts. The state has an overall shortfall of about 2,450 MW, though coal stock has improved a bit with generation commencing in a few plants that were forced to go idle.

    Punjab has a shortfall of 1,000 MW per day as many thermal units are shut or working at 50%. 

    States looking at options to meet power demands

    “Many of our thermal power units are shut due to coal shortage. But in a day or so the power situation should improve,” said Punjab State Power Corporation chairman A Venu Parshad. Poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, too, has a deficit of over 1,000 MW, because of which some of the rural areas are facing five-six hour outages. However, uninterrupted supply to cities is being maintained.

    ALSO WATCH:

    As for the NDA-ruled Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday admitted he was grappling with a power crisis. To bridge the deficit of about 800 MW, the government is purchasing power at higher rates, he said.

    Kerala has an estimated shortfall of 300-400 MW amid dwindling coal reserves. The Pinarayi government has decided to buy costly power from the exchange to avoid load shedding.

    Very few states have been untouched by the crisis, and Telangana must count itself as lucky because it has Singareni coal fields. Its current stock at thermal units is sufficient for the next 15 days. “Because, we have Singareni, we have sufficient stocks,” a top official in TS Genco said.

    Odisha, too, is in a comfortable position with adequate stock. It is anyway a power surplus state.

    As for Tamil Nadu, it has coal stock for seven days.

    The situation is largely normal in Assam, Chhattisgarh and MP.

    But since Uttarakhand has stopped buying costly power to meet its deficit, many districts there are experiencing power cuts for a few hours. Capital Dehradun, though, is adequately provided for.

    The power situation in Andhra Pradesh, too, is manageable but coal shortage has forced some thermal plants to scale down generation. If the situation is not addressed immediately, power cuts could become unavoidable after a week, officials warned.

    Costly energySourcing energy from the national exchange costs a bomb but many states dipping into it to avoid power cuts. Its per unit cost has shot up from Rs 5-8 per unit earlier to Rs 12-15 per unit now

    Scaling upCoal India Ltd said it has scaled up supply of coal to power plants across the country to 1.51 million tonnes a day in the last four days and is trying to bridge the demand-supply gap

    40 MT stockCoal India already has 40 million tonnes of stock at its pitheads and the volume is steadily increasing, it said in a statement. CIL accounts for over 80% of domestic coal output

    With inputs from ENS bureaux