HomePunjabPSPCL may face coal hurdle during paddy season - V K Gupta

PSPCL may face coal hurdle during paddy season – V K Gupta

PSPCL may face coal hurdle during paddy season – V K Gupta

Bahadurjeet Singh /Rupnagar

Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd.(PSPCL) may face a coal hurdle during the upcoming paddy season. The rise in power demand this year coupled with erratic coal supply may force PSPCL to go for the costly power purchase, said V K Gupta ,spokesperson All India power Engineers Federation (AIPEF)

He said that Punjab  is likely to face more power cuts this year as PSPCL and IPPs ‘ coal inventories are quite low  and electricity demand is expected to increase by more  than 1000 MW from last year’s level during the paddy season.

He said that the problem is that the private power generators in the state are not incurring expenditure toward building inventories .Central Electricity Authority(CEA )guidelines recommend power plants to have  30 days of stock on average where the plants are more than 1500 km from the coal mine. The present average coal stock at thermal plants in the state is just sufficient  for  7 days.

He said that ministry of power in its meeting held on April 12, has recommended the import of coal for blending up to 10%  to ensure adequate stock, when the power demand is at its peak. The ministry has asked states for coal imports for blending to 36 million tonnes,  and fixed targets for each state.

He said that the present landed cost of imported Indonesian coal is around 200 US $. The prohibited cost of imported coal would increase costs for PSPCL and this increased cost of fuel may not be passed on to subsidized consumers.

PSPCL may face coal hurdle during paddy season - V K Gupta-Photo courtesy-Internet
Coalfields 

The ministry  has further asked the states-, which are located in  far off places from coal mines that in order to avoid long-distance coal transport,  tolling facility would be allowed up to 25 percent of their linkage coal
to optimally utilize their linkage coal in the plants  nearer to the mines as it would be easier to transmit electricity instead of coal transport to far-off states. This suggestion may not be workable at this stage, said V K Gupta.

He said that Punjab relies heavily on thermal power plants for electricity, with its own thermal generation of 5680 MW including the capacity of three private  thermal plants in the state. To meet the coal shortage Punjab has asked for an additional 20 lakh tonnes of coal for the state’s thermal power plants and additional 30 lakh tonnes of coal for the state’s independent power producers.

The problem is further linked to a shortage of trains to deliver coal to power plants is also exacerbating  the supply crisis. The number of rakes committed by the Indian Railways per day is 415, against  453 required by the power utilities. Practically this number never exceeds 400, Gupta said .

He said that the efforts put by the PSPCL management in starting its own Pachhwara coal mine  in Jharkhand are yielding results and mining is expected by June end.

The coal may reach state thermal plants in July in the mid of the upcoming paddy season.

April 14,2022

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