Coal Based Power Generation Surges 9% in April Amid Shortage

Coal-based power generation registered 9.26 per cent rise at 1,02,529 million units (MU) in April as compared to the year-ago period.

This comes amid the country facing a power crisis.

The thermal power generation was 93,838 MU in April 2021, according to official data.

"Coal-based power generation has registered a growth of 9.26 per cent in April 2022 as compared to April 2021 and growth of 2.25 per cent as compared to March 2022," it said.

The thermal power generation in April also grew 2.25 per cent when compared to 1,00,276 MU in March, it said.

The overall power generation last month increased 11.75 per cent to 1,36,565 MU against 1,22,209 MU in the year-ago period, it added.

"Total power generation has also increased in April 2022 to 1,36,565 MU from 1,33,584 MU in March 2022," it said.

The coal ministry had earlier said that the current power crisis is mainly on account of a sharp decline in electricity generation from different fuel sources and not due to the non-availability of domestic coal.

In an interview with PTI, Coal Secretary A K Jain had attributed the low coal stocks at power plants to several factors such as heightened power demand due to the boom in the economy post-pandemic, early arrival of summer, rise in the price of gas and imported coal and sharp fall in electricity generation by coastal thermal power plants.

He had added that a slew of measures are already underway to enhance the total power supply in the country.

The gas-based power generation which has fallen drastically in the country aggravated the crisis.

The coastal thermal power plants are now generating around half of their capacity because of the sharp rise in the prices of imported coal. This has resulted in a gap between the demand and supply of electricity.

The secretary had said that states located in the South and West have been dependent on imported coal. And when domestic coal is dispatched through wagons/ rakes to the plants in these states to make up for the loss in imported coal generation, the turnaround time of rakes is more than 10 days, which creates rake availability issues for other plants.

Since last year, the railways have loaded more coal than ever, even by curtailing rake supply to other sectors to meet the enhanced demand of the power sector. There was good loading of rakes in March.