Monsoon management plan in works to ensure coal at power plants

New Delhi: The coal ministry is working on a 'monsoon management plan' to ensure adequate availability of the fuel at power plants during the rainy season when both coal production and evacuation are impacted.

Under the plan, coal companies will focus on evacuating coal through first-mile connectivity, deliver more from shallow areas, and develop cemented roads for movement of trucks, coal secretary Amrit Lal Meena told ET.

"With these, we are hopeful that the availability of coal at power plants will be sufficient and on target," he said.


The planning focus has now moved to the second quarter as there is lesser coal stock depletion at present owing to favourable weather conditions, but supply may get stretched due to rains impacting operations.

The government was focused on delivering large quantities in the first quarter, anticipating a surge in demand in April.

First-mile connectivity refers to the transportation of coal from pitheads to dispatch points without road transportation of coal in mines. It includes railway sidings near coal mines and mechanised coal transportation and loading system that crush, size coal and provide speedy computer-aided loading.

In the larger mines, cemented roads have already been developed, which will help in the rainy season, Meena said.

Shallow mines are those that are new with less depth compared to those that have been excavated for a longer period.

The target of total coal production for July-September quarter this year is 203.2 million metric tonnes while that of offtake to power plants is 180.3 mt.

In the last financial year, the target of offtake to power plants for the same period was 155.9 million metric tonnes but the actual delivery was much higher at 165 mt because of higher domestic fuel demand.

So far, there have been no transportation challenges as railways have been providing sufficient rakes, Meena said.

Coal stock at power plants as of April 30 was at 35.8 mt, much higher compared with 21.9 mt on the same day last year.

Stock at power plants have consistently remained above 30 million metric tonnes over the last four months, which means the supply is meeting the demand, Meena said.

Adequate rakes for coal transport have also been provided so far and depletion in summer months starting March has been marginal, he added.

The cooler-than-expected weather in north India also helped temper demand in April when a 231 GW peak was expected. The highest demand so far was on April 17 at 216 GW.