Amidst the coal crisis and power cuts in the country, the latest picture of the state of power generation in-state power plants has come to the fore. According to a report by the Central Electricity Authority's National Power Portal on Tuesday, plants in many states are generating less power than their capacity. According to the portal, power generation in Haryana's power plants has come down by 66%. At the same time, 40 percent less electricity is being generated in Gujarat's power plants. Also, Madhya Pradesh is generating 35% less electricity and Maharashtra 25% less.
At the same time, power plants in Punjab are generating 38 percent less electricity. Power plants in Rajasthan and Jharkhand are generating 51% and 50% less electricity respectively. The output of power plants of Chhattisgarh has decreased by 25%. Talking about the southern states, 45 percent power generation is being reduced in power plants in Andhra Pradesh. Power plants in Karnataka are producing 62% less. The situation is better in Tamil Nadu and Telangana. The production at both the places has decreased by 5 and 2% respectively.
According to the report of the Central Electricity Authority on Tuesday, 17 out of 135 power plants in the country do not have coal for a day. They have a total capacity of 16,430 MW. One day's coal is left in 26 plants with 34,930 MW capacity. The 40 plants have coal for 2 to 3 days, generating 51,419 MW of electricity. Coal remains for 4 to 6 days in 32 plants. There, 37,435 MW of electricity is generated.
Continuous supply is being done by road-rail from Coal India, so the stock is also changing. However, coal is extracted from the mines and goes directly to the plant. The total power generation capacity of these plants is 35,200 MW and the average stock available with these plants is about 5 days.
While 10 of the remaining 119 power plants in the country are located at a distance of more than 1500 km from coal mines or closer to the coast. Out of 10 such plants, 8 plants have coal reserves for 5 days and 2 plants for 9 days. However, out of the remaining 109 plants, 70 have 4 days coal available and 26 plants have 7 days coal stock.
Here, the Prime Minister's Office reviewed the status of coal supply and power generation on Tuesday. However, amidst the power crisis from Rajasthan to Kerala, Energy Secretary Alex Kumar and Coal Secretary AK Jain gave complete information about the status of power and coal supply.
Union Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi said that by October 20-21, the supply of coal will increase from 19.5 lakh tonnes to two million tonnes per day. Also, there will be no shortage of coal for power generation units. Coal India has 22 days of stock. However, considering the supply of Coal India as inadequate, the government has asked to expedite it. The Center has warned states that their coal quota will be reduced if their power units are found selling power to take advantage of the increased prices.