Amid an unprecedented shortage of coal, the Delhi Government sounded an alarm on Friday saying the Government only has stocks left for the coming few days even as Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the situation is being handled somehow.
“There is a severe shortage of coal in the whole country. The biggest reasons behind this are the lack of railway rakes and the acute shortage of coal supply. Due to this acute shortage of coal, all the power plants across the country are facing problems regarding power generation,” Delhi Power Minister Satyendra Jain said at a press conference on Friday.
He aired his remarks at a time when the national Capital is facing a brutal spell of the heatwave which has led to an increase in power consumption. The peak power demand on Friday crossed the 6,000 MW-mark for the second day in a row, discom officials said.
According to real-time data of State Load Dispatch Centre (SLDC), Delhi, the city’s peak power demand clocked 6,197 MW, an increase of over 38 per cent from April 1, at 3.31 pm on Friday.
The Minister said the power plants in Delhi cannot function with the coal stock of one day.
Jain said normally there is stock of coal for more than 21 days to generate electricity at the power plants, but today, only one day’s worth of coal is left in many plants in the country.
“The situation in Delhi is serious. All the power plants that provide electricity to Delhi have only one day of coal left. Under any circumstance, there must be at least 7 days of coal stock so that the power plants can operate at their full capacity. More than 21 days of backup is the norm in all power plants, but in the last few days, it has been reduced to only 1-2 days,” the Minister said.
Kejriwal claimed the power situation in the whole of India is very grave. “There is a huge shortage of power in the country. So far we have managed it somehow in Delhi.
The situation is very grave in the whole of India. Together we soon need to find a solution. Quick, concrete steps are required to tackle this problem,” Kejriwal tweeted.
Contradicting the Delhi Government’s claims, the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), on Friday said that both power stations are running at full capacity and receiving regular supplies. Responding to the Delhi Government’s claims of a shortage of coal at its plants, The NTPC said in a tweet that currently Unchahar and Dadri power stations, supplying power to the national Capital, are running at full capacity and receiving “regular” coal supplies. “All six units of Dadri and 5 units of Unchahar are running at full capacity and receiving regular coal supplies. Present stock is 1,40,000 MT and 95,000 MT respectively and import coal supplies are also in pipeline, NTPC tweeted.
Jain also said that the electricity is generated daily in the power plant. Therefore, for the backup of electricity, it is necessary to have a backup of the fuel that helps produce electricity. At present, this fuel is coal, whose supply has decreased across the country.
“There is no payment pending from the Delhi Government. It can be possible that the States-- Haryana and Uttar Pradesh-- have not made their payments,” he added.
Presently, 25-30 per cent of the electricity demand in Delhi is being met through these power stations, and they face a shortage of coal, Jain said. Delhi receives 1751 MW of power per day from Dadri-II, Unchahar, Kahalgaon, Farakka and Jhajjar plants. The Capital gets the maximum supply of 728 MW from Dadri-II power station, while it receives 100 MW from the Unchahar station, the Delhi Government had said earlier.
The Delhi government on Thursday said coal at two of the five stations it sources power from would last only about one or two days. It requested the Centre to provide enough stock. The appeal came on a day when Delhi’s power demand crossed the 6,000 megawatts (MW) per day mark for the first time in April.
