State-run mining corporation Coal India will import fuel for the first time since 2015, a Power Ministry letter accessed by Reuters indicated on Saturday.
It would be the first time since 2015 that Coal India has imported the fuel, highlighting efforts by state and central officials to stock up to avoid a repeat of April, when India faced its worst power cuts in more than six years, reported Reuters.
On Sunday, the Power Ministry directed the Central Electricity Authority of India (CEA) to compute the quantity of the coal consumed, that was procured under SHAKTI B policy mandating blending of 10 per cent by weight for the power generation from June 15 to March 31, 2023.
This blended coal is equivalent to about 15 per cent of the domestic coal in terms of energy.
"Shakti B (viii) (a) is the window for power plants having untied capacity to bid for coal, to generate power using this coal and sell it in the exchange under the Day Ahead Market (DAM) or the Discovery of Efficient Electricity Price (DEEP) portal for short term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA)," said the Ministry of power in an official statement.
This determination of coal consumption during the said period will give a window of about three weeks for these plants to procure imported coal.
Considering the increasing demand for electricity and the failure of adequate coal supply from domestic coal companies, Power Ministry advised all Gencos, including independent power producers (IPPs), on April 28 to blend 10 per cent of imported coal for power generation to supplement domestic coal supply.
Coal generated over 73% of electricity produced in 2020–21, while lignite accounted for 3.6% of electricity generation. India's electricity sector consumed over 70% of the coal produced in the country in 2013.
India is one of the largest consumers of coal in the world. The country consumed 906.08 million metric tons (0.99878 billion short tons) of coal in 2020–21, of which 79.03% was produced domestically.
Coal consumption grew at a compound annual growth rate of 3.96% over the previous decade. Due to high demand and poor average quality, India is forced to import high quality coal to meet the requirements of steel plants.
India imported 215.25 million metric tons (237.27 million short tons) and exported 2.95 million metric tons (3.25 million short tons) of coal in 2020-21. Net imports of coal declined by 13.39% over the previous fiscal.
India's net imports of coal grew at a compound annual growth rate of 8.62% over the last 10 years. India is the second largest coal importer in the world, after China.
(with inputs from agencies)
