State-owned Coal India Limited (CIL) said on September 2 it has launched a multi-pronged effort to help build up coal stocks at power plants, and stressed that supply to the electricity units carrying stock of zero to six days has been prioritised by preparing a contingency supply plan to increase their stock. The statement assumes importance in the wake of the country's power stations grappling with depleting stocks at their end.
"Launching a multi-pronged effort to help build up stocks at power plants, CIL has offered coal on 'as is where' basis through rail-cum-road mode from sources where high stock is available. Twenty-three such mines carrying 40.3 MT (million tonnes) of stock as of August 16 were identified," CIL said in a statement.
Supply to the power plants carrying stock of zero to six days has been prioritised by preparing a contingency supply plan to increase their stock, it said. In the case of availability issue at linked mines, alternative sources have already been allocated for smooth running of the plant.
"With plans to ramp up production, strengthening evacuation infrastructure and adequate coal stock at our pitheads, we are prepared to meet any surge in coal demand from the power sector," the company said. CIL supplied 44 MT more coal to the power sector during April-August, as compared to the year-ago period.
The company despatched about 206 MT of dry fuel to the coal-fired power plants during the first five months of the FY22, posting a 27 per cent growth against 162 MT a year ago. Even compared to a pandemic-free period of April-August 2019, when despatches to the power sector were 190.7 MT, CIL logged an 8 percent growth.
The company's urgency in shoring up supplies to power plants was evidenced in 104 percent materialisation during the last week of August at an average per day supply of 1.36 MT against the requirement of 1.31 MT given by the Central Electricity Authority. "The last three-day average loading to power went up to 1.4 MT," it said.
The total offtake by the PSU at 259.3 MT during the April-August period jumped nearly 51 MT compared to 208.5 MT a year ago, clocking a 24.4 per cent growth. CIL's offtake held steady at 1.7 MT per day in the last week of August.
Never in August of any previous year, have the company's despatches exceeded 1.6 MT a day. With the monsoon receding, CIL is aiming to elevate despatches to 1.8 MT a day and beyond in September. CIL produced 209.2 MT of coal progressive till August, the increase in absolute terms being 13.6 MT logging a seven per cent growth.
During the last week of August, CIL ramped up its output at an average of 1.45 MT per day. The average August production has never been higher than 1.25 MT per day during the past four years. CIL accounts for over 80 per cent of domestic coal output.
(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)
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