Coal Ministry expects 39 MT stock at power plants by August end
coal ministry expects domestic coal-based thermal power plants to have a stock of 39 million tonnes of the dry fuel at the end of this month and 34 million tonnes by September-end, secretary Amrit Lal Meena told ET.
The closing stocks are seen much higher from a year earlier — up 39.2% for August and 57% for September — in the critical monsoon period, when evacuation and transport of the fuel becomes a challenge.
The current stocks at power plants are at 43.7 million tonnes, enough to meet about 19 days of consumption.
The projection comes in the backdrop of higher production and dispatch of the fuel that still enables a major part of electricity generation in the country.
More than 30 million tonnes of stock is expected by mid-October, the end of the monsoon period, according to Meena, compared with 18.75 million tonnes as of October 18 last year when the rains receded. Coal production in the second half of the year is more, so there will be replenishment and accreditation after mid-October, he added.
The coal ministry has a target to produce1.08 billion tonnes of coal in FY25 and 1.5 billion tonnes in FY30.
In FY24, domestic coal production increased 11.65% from the previous year to 997.26 million tonnes. In the current financial year till July 2024, production was 321.41 million tonnes, registering 9.6% growth compared with the same period of the last financial year. Meena said some coal imports could be substituted with higher production and cheaper domestic availability going forward.
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