The electricity demand in the country has gone up by 25 percent or 40,000 to 50,000 MW on a day-to-day basis when compared to last year, which warrants a ramp up in coal production meet enormous demand at power plants, Union minister R K Singh on Wednesday said.
He, however, said that the present coal stock of 22 million tonnes is “manageable”, but he would have been happier if there was more availability of the dry fuel at power plants.
The minister said that there is no problem now in terms of availability of coal stock but rainy season, which is around the corner, may trigger a shortage.
Meanwhile, the coal ministry on Wednesday said that India’s coal production increased by 33.88% to 71.30 million tonnes (MT) from 53.25 MT in May 2022 as compared to May 2021.
As per the provisional data of the ministry, during May 2022 CIL, SCCL and captive mines/ others registered a growth of 30.04%, 11.01% and 83.33% by producing 54.72 MT, 6.04 MT and 10.54 MT, respectively.
At the same time, coal dispatch increased by 16.05% to 77.83 MT from 67.06 MT during May 2022 as compared to May 20. Last month, CIL, SCCL and Captives/others registered a growth of 11.34%, 5.66% and 67.06% by dispatching 61.24 MT, 6.13 MT and 10.46 MT, respectively.
Of the top 37 coal producing mines, while 23 of them produced more than 100% and the performance of another 10 mines stood between 80 and 100%.
Coal-based power generation has registered a growth of 26.18% in May 2022 as compared to May 2021. The overall power generation in May 2022 has been 23.32% higher than in Apr 2021 and 2.63% higher than the power generated in April 2022.
Coal based power generation in the month of May 2022 has been 98,609 MU in comparison to 1,02,529 MU in Apr 2022 and registered a negative growth of 3.82 %. However, total power generation has increased in May 2022 to 1,40,059 MU from 1,36,465 MU in Apr 2022 due to hydro and wind energy.
