India: 12 states could see power crisis soon

The All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) on Monday warned of an energy crisis in 12 states amid "low coal stock" to fire thermal power plants.

A coal crisis is being witnessed in 12 states post October 2021, the AIPEF said in a statement.

"AIPEF has drawn the attention of Central and state governments towards the depleting coal inventory of domestic thermal power plants and has warned of an impending energy crisis in 12 states," it added.

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The power crisis could worsen owing to the low coal stock to fire thermal power units, AIPEF Chairman Shailendra Dubey said in the statement.

In the first half of April 2022, the domestic power demand hit a 38-year high for the month. While there was 1.1 per cent power shortage in October 2021, this shortfall shot up to 1.4 per cent in April 2022, he said.

States like Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Jharkhand and Haryana are facing power cuts, Dubey said, adding, "I urge the government to take immediate steps to replenish the coal inventory in thermal power stations to avert the crisis situation." In Uttar Pradesh, power demand has reached 21,000 megawatt while the supply is around 19,000 MW to 20,000 MW, he claimed.

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According to the statement, the 2,630-MW Anpara Thermal Power Project, located at Sonebhadra in Uttar Pradesh, is at the pit head of a coal mine. There should be 5.96 lakh tonnes of coal in stock at Anpara, whereas at present it has only 3.28 LT.

Similarly, the Harduaganj project should have 4.97 LT of coal in stock but has only 65,700 tonnes. The Obra plant in the state should have 4.45 LT in stock, while there is about 1 LT of coal stock left with it.

Speaking to PTI over phone, Dubey said, "This situation has arisen due to the lack of foresight of the management. In October last year, Parichha thermal power station had to be closed due to coal shortage." According to Dubey, other states which are facing a coal crisis are Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

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However, the association did not provide consolidated data of coal stock across various power plants in these 12 states.