Half of India's Coal Plants Run Critically Low on Fuel: 96 Plants Hold Less Than Three Days' Supply as Demand Surges
NEW DELHI — Half of India's 191 coal-fired power plants are operating with critically low fuel stocks due to a surge in power demand amid hotter-than-usual weather linked to El Niño, government data showed, Reuters reported on October 21.
The number of plants with critically low coal stocks — defined as having enough fuel to generate power for less than three days — rose to 96 as of October 19, from 60 plants in mid-September, data from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) showed. The shortages are occurring even as India's coal ministry said last week that it had ramped up supplies to power plants. India's total coal stocks at power stations have fallen by about 5% since the beginning of the month, the data showed.
Daily peak electricity demand this year has been running about 45 gigawatts to 50 GW higher than a year earlier, partly because weaker monsoon rains reduced hydroelectric output and increased reliance on thermal plants. In September, the gap between India's power demand and electricity supply widened to 560 million kilowatt-hours, the highest since August 2023, even as coal-fired generation rose 13.3% from a year earlier while hydropower generation fell 20%, the CEA data showed.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：印度温迪亚查尔超级火力发电站（资料图）。照片：Jayadevp13，CC BY-SA 4.0，经Wikimedia Commons。The Vindhyachal Super Thermal Power Station in India (file photo). Photo: Jayadevp13, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
