New Delhi: The number of thermal power plants with less than seven days of coal stocks has risen to 56 this week from 52 last week, government data showed on Wednesday.
India's 100 thermal power plants had enough coal overall to last six days on Sept. 1, unchanged on week, the Central Electricity Authority said. The stock levels are the lowest since mid-2012, when hundreds of millions of people were cut off in one of the world's worst blackouts.
Lesser hydel power generation due to deficient monsoon and unavailability of sufficient coal has put pressure on thermal power projects facing electricity crisis, Power Minister Piyush Goyal had said.
"The hydel projects are not doing well due to deficient monsoon hence pressure on thermal projects," Goyal said here. According to latest official data, northern region is facing over 5,000 MW of power shortage due to coal stocks drying up.
Several parts of south and central Mumbai yesterday faced massive power outages after a unit of Tata Power's Trombay plant, which primarily supplies to the city, tripped. Meanwhile, the Power Minister today met officials from five states -- Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab -- which are facing power crisis.
These states are procuring power from Adani Power's 4,620 MW thermal power plant and Tata Power's 4,000 MW ultra mega power project both at Mundra, Gujarat.
The five states are facing power crisis as the two companies have shut down some units of their power plants. Tata Power, which shut some units at it plant last week, had done so due to a technical glitch.
Tata's Mundra project supplies power to Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab and Adani Power's supplies electricity to Gujarat and Haryana. Last Monday, the Supreme Court had stayed the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity's interim order allowing compensatory tariffs for the two Mundra projects. These projects have been impacted by change in Indonesian coal pricing policy.
Following a change in Indonesia's coal-price regime in 2011, both Tata Power and Adani Power had approached Central Electricity Regulatory Commission seeking relief, which allowed them to charge higher tariffs from the state utilities as compensation for the costlier fuel.
