New Delhi: Admitting the fact that there was a shortage of power supply in India, Union Power Minister RK Singh on Thursday said that during 2022-2023 (April-June), against the requirement of 404.76 Billion Units (BU), the energy supplied was 400.65 BU.
"Gap in supply is generally on account of factors other than inadequacy of power availability on the country, which are constraints in the distribution network, financial constraints, commercial reasons, forced outage of generating units among others," Singh said in the Lok Sabha.
Singh further informed that the coal stock available with the Thermal Power Plants (TPPs) was 25.6 Million Tonnes (MT) as of March 31 this year, and has increased to 28.3 MT as of July 14, which is about 50 percent of the normative coal stock required to be maintained by TPPs.
"The stock available as of July 14 is sufficient to run TPPs for an average of 10 days at 85 percent plant load factor (PLF). Plantwise stock is monitored by the central electricity authority," Singh said. Singh said that the central government has taken several steps to ensure a smooth coal supply to power plants for unhindered power generation.
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He said that an inter-ministerial sub-group comprising representatives from the Ministry of Power, Coal, Railways as well as CEA, Coal India Limited (CIL), and Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) meet regularly to take various operational decisions to enhance the supply of coal to thermal power plants as well as for meeting any contingent situations relating to power sector including to alleviate critical coal stock position in power plants. Singh further said that railways have issued orders to give preference to the power sector for loading of coal from Good Shed Siding (GSS) and Private Washery (PW).
